


Fullmetal Alchemist Novel: To Save Ed

by TowerofBabel



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Al fights Envy in Ed's mind, Ed feels guilt, Envy just wants to to screw with everyone, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-07 15:10:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 30
Words: 59,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16856308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TowerofBabel/pseuds/TowerofBabel
Summary: When Ed is struck down by a mysterious illness, Al must venture deep into his brother's mind to find the solution. But when Envy is the cause, their father's past and his first born son comes back to haunt the family.





	1. Chapter 1

**_ROCKBELL RESIDENCE_ **

A dark foreboding enveloped Al, and he feared the worse for his brother.

He finally gotten his body back and was reunited with his brother after two years, but did all he gain come at too high of a price?

Three weeks to the day they were reunited, Ed had contracted a mysterious illness that was affecting his mind. It was also causing him to have unexplained hallucinations and delusions.

He referred to his brother's problem as a sleepless delusional state and dubbed what Edward was experiencing as Waking Hallucinations because he was experiencing them while fully conscious. All Ed could see was what his mind and sensory perception was telling him. When he experienced these _Waking Hallucinations_ , his mind was transfixed on a certain event and couldn't brake free. He appeared to be fine, but he wasn't in real time.

Al had consulted some of the highest medical professionals in the country - he even consulted other Alchemists believing they might have an answer where medicine failed - but much to his hope, there was no one would could diagnose Ed's problem. And with every passing day Ed got worse.

Last night he had to finally restrain Ed in bed with an Alchemy binding spell. He was starting to get violent and was on the verge of physical harm during his last hallucination. And much to Al's surprise, Ed's emotions had progressively transversed from subtle to full-blown anger when he saw him. There was a hate in his eyes Al had never seen in his brother before, and it scared him.

Why would Ed be angry at him?

Distraught, he couldn't believe this was happening to Ed after everything they had gone through in recent years. It just wasn't fair.

Ed started to mutter something. Winry was at his bedside. He was talking in his sleep.

"What's he saying?" he asked Winry.

"I don't know, it's undecipherable," she said.

But then it started getting louder until both of them could hear his mutterings clearly.

Edwas taking to him in a calm and in a loving brotherly fashion, but he was having a one-way conversion with him on a topic they had discussed over six years ago when they first started their journey to restore their bodies. Al remembered the conversion. It was on one of those nights when they were studying to become State Alchemists. Ed passed, but Al backed out. They were discussing the material.

"He's getting worse," Winry said, tears falling down her cheeks. Her eyes were already red from crying the night before when Al had to restrain Ed for his own good. "Isn't there anything we can do, Alphonse?"

"I'm afraid not," he said distressed. "I've tried every conventional medicinal method I can think of, but-" He suddenly looked at his hands. "Damn it! All this power at my finger tips and there's not a damn thing Alchemy can do to help my brother. This is so unfair!"

"Don't blame yourself, Al, this isn't your fault," Winry assured him. "We don't know what's happening to him, so there's no use in placing blame until we do." And that was what scared her most. The worse disease was one that didn't have a diagnoses or a cure.

"The strange thing is no one has ever heard of these Waking Hallucinations, as I've dubbed them,"he said. "There's been no medical case of it in history."

"Nothing documented, that is," Winry confirmed. "We've discovered lots of things undocumented in the military and other secret society organizations they didn't want the public to know about in recent years."

"That's true. But if this is some of cotangent someone is testing out on Ed, I want to know why,"he said, his voice highly agitated. He clenched a tight fist at his side and felt his nails dig into his skin. "This might even be some new strain of mutated virus released to an unexpected population. We might be infected too."

With Al going off on a wild tangent, Winry thought she had to be the voice of reason at this point. "You're not thinking clearly, Al," she said calmly. "I highly doubt this is a new strain of mutated virus released on an unexpected population. We haven't experienced these waking hallucinations, as you call them. No one in Resenbul Village has, I've asked. This seems to be affecting Ed only. Almost as if it targeted him directly."

"There has to be something we're not thinking of,"Al said.

"We've already consulted over a dozen highly trained medical doctors around the country about Ed's problem, but no one can give us a definitive answer," Winry said. "They're just as baffled as we are."

"Then what if we're not looking in the right place?" Al suggested.

"What do you mean, Al?"

"I'm not sure, but what if this isn't a disease? What if his waking hallucinations manifest from a deeper source inside his subconscious?"

Suddenly their discussion was interrupted by Ed shouting, "MURDERER!" And with blood-shot eyes Ed turned his head and looked directly at Al. He gritted his teeth angry and he breathed heavy. And he fought against the Alchemy binding spell. Sweet dripped down his face. His muscles tensed. Ed also had a fever on top of everything and it added to things. "Murderer! You killed my brother!"

Al was awestruck at such an accusation especially by his brother who knew it wasn't true. "Ed, Don't you recognize me? I am your brother, Alphonse. Why would you say such a thing?"

"Because it's true! You're a Homunculus pretending to be my brother. I sealed my brother's soul in an empty, vacuous suit of armor until I could restore his rightful body. I don't see my brother - only you! And you're not him! What have you done with him?" Then he started calling Al. "Al, where are you?"

"But I am your brother, Ed," Al said, trying to reassure him. Ed's eyes followed him. "You restored me back to my body nearly two years ago, don't you remember? I almost died, but you saved me at risk of you own life."

Tears began to trail down Ed's cheeks. Anger turned to sadness. He said, "Please give me back my brother. I'll give you anything. My other arm, my other leg - anything! Al's suffered enough for my mistake. I was wrong. I shouldn't have force him to help me."

"What does he mean by that?" Winry wondered.

Heshook his head uncertain.

Suddenly Ed's behavior turned violent and he began to thrash around in bed, but the Alchemy spell that bound him to it kept him secure. Ed screamed and shouted, he wanted to be free. But Al couldn't release him for his own safety. Then he stopped and rested. But moments later, he said tiredly, with his eyes closed, "Al, what's going on?"

Hewasn't sure if Ed was actually speaking to him or having another phantom conversion, but he answered anyway. "Brother?" he said. "I've used an Alchemy binding spell to keep you from hurting yourself," Al said. "It's only temporary until we can figure out what's happening to you. Please don't be angry."

Ed produced a mild tried smile but his eyes were still closed, and said, "I can never be angry at you, Al. We may fight a lot, but that's what makes us brothers. I trust you." His mouth moved for a few more words, but whatever he said afterwards was muffled and lost as he trailed off and fell unconscious.

Al rubbed his tried eyes with two fingers. He hadn't slept in nearly twenty-four hours. He choked back tears because he didn't want Winry to see him cry and wiped them away, masking rubbing his eyes. He had to be strong, he was the only person Ed could trust to help him. And yet he felt so helpless.

He clenched a fist frustrated. Winry saw how worried he was and put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to ease his woes. Al looked at her hand and then followed her arm to her face. She smiled gently. He could see how worried she was, but for the moment she was trying to be strong. He smiled gently back, hoping his smile would comfort her.

He liked Winry. However, his liking for her stemmed deeper than friendship. But he couldn't pursue her because he knew she liked Ed. There was just this deeper connection between them that Al couldn't ignore. So he had to bury his true feelings deep down inside and forget about them. But it wasn't easy.

Al suddenly froze noticing a tiny scar on the base of her neck. He was surprised he hadn't noticed it before. It was then that his eyes widened wide as if he just remembered something important. "What is it?" Winry asked.

"Scar," he said.

"What about Scar? He's dead."

"Not him. Why didn't I think about it before? It just might work."

"What just might work?" Winry asked.

Al went on to explain. "A couple of years ago Scar introduced Ed and I to a powerful Ishbalan doctor when we visited an Ishbal encampment. He told us about a forbidden Alchemy technique called the Mind Mending. Even though it was a form of Alchemy, it was quietly used for medical relief of unexplained mental aliments and allowed. Instead of altering the state of matter it altered the state of the mind."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"It's an evasive technique, however we were told it was very effective."He continued. "We weren't shown the technique first-hand, but the doctor told us of its mechanics and how it could be performed."

"And you think the Mind Mending technique can work on Ed?"

"I won't know until I try,"he said. "But there is a risk. If it isn't performed correctly both of us could die."

Winry gasped in shock. "Then you can't do it, Al," she said.

"I have to try, Winry," he said. "We don't have any other option. This could be Ed's only hope of surviving. I owe him enough to try."

"Why do you think that?" Winry asked.

"Because he risked everything to restore my body. So call it an equivalent exchange."

He went over to the head of the bed and crouched down. He placed the palms of his hands on Ed's temples.

"There's no way I can contact you even if I'm successful, so you're just going to have to trust me, Winry," he said. Winry nodded. "Oh, and this is very important. Under no circumstances break the connection between me and my brother. I'm using my hands as a conductor between my mind and his. If the link is severed I could be trapped in Ed's mind forever, or until he dies." Winry looked very concerned to hear that. Al then produced a comforting smile. "But don't worry, I'm sure this'll work."

"But you've never done it before, how can you be sure?"

"Because I have faith, Winry,"he said. "And nothing's gonna stop me from helping my brother."

Al closed his eyes and focused on the tremendous task that lay before him. Performing Alchemy without a circle was one thing, he had learned how to accomplish that from his brother. But to carry out a technique he had never attempt before was not only very dangerous but also very foolish. Any number of things could go wrong. But he had to risk it to see what was killing his brother.

Suddenly Ed opened his eyes and looked at Al with eyes full of hate!He shouted, "Get you hands off me, you filthy bastard!"

"No," he said. "I'm risking my life for you, brother." He pressed his hands against Ed's head and grabbed onto his head. He was not going to let go. "Like it or not, I'm going to help you. You risked everything to get my body back. Now it's time I do that same."

"No! No!" Ed shouted. "I won't let you!" And Ed thrashed his head around. But Al held firm.

Heturned to Winry. "Now remember, absolutely under no circumstances are my hands to be removed from Ed's head for the complete duration of this procedure. Okay, Winry?"

But with Ed continuously thrashing around like that it wasn't going to be easy, Winry thought.

Suddenly she had a thought and ran to her work bench carrying back with her a roll of thick black electrical duct tape. She pulled a strip off and wrapped it around Al's hands and Ed's head securing them together. Al looked at what she had done and smiled pleased. "That'll work. Thanks Winry." He said.

"Just bring him home, okay Al?" she said hopefully.

_No promises_ , Al honestly thought. But instead said, "I will."And smiled.

He turned back to Ed who was still thrashing around. "For you brother," he said, and closed his eyes.

Speaking an ancient Ishbalan enchantment over and over again to enter the deepest recesses of Ed's mind. Al suddenly found his consciousness disembodied and engulfed in a bright flash of light. Momentarily blinded, Al ventured through Ed's subconscious mind. Thousands of jumbled images shot past him like streams of multi-colored light through a kaleidoscope.

Suddenly, everything went black.

_To be continued...  
_


	2. Chapter 2

Al opened his eyes and found himself laying in the middle of a green field. But this place was familiar. And he soon learned why. It was his urban town. He got to his feet and looked down upon his home town that stood the test of time longer than he could remember.

Rizenbul Village had Automail, but that's all it had. But he liked it. Every time he came back here he enjoyed the peace and quiet he got compared to the hustle and bustle of urban cities. There was just something about Rizenbul Village that thoroughly bought him peace.

And it was a peaceful day. The sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky and the temperature was balmy. Three kids played chase at the bottom of the hill he stood atop of and he recognized them immediately. He was there, his brother and Winry, but they were children. And from the looks of things this appeared to be the day before Ed and he tried Human transmutation to bring their mother back.

Why would his journey to save his brother bring him back here this far back in Ed's past?

He started to venture down the hill hoping he would find an answer to his question, but suddenly he felt a hand push him and he tumbled the rest of the way down. When he reached the bottom he felt his head and then looked back up and noticed a lone stranger and he looked awfully like Ed. But he was different somehow, and he sensed an emptiness about him. He didn't know if this was his brother or not!

"Brother, I've come to help you…"

But Ed didn't answer him.

A few moments passed and Al didn't do anything, but the moment he tried to stand, Ed clapped his hands together and touched the ground and created a massive earthquake which cracked the earth and created a massive jagged crevice. As the ground rumbled from the aftershocks Al fell over the side and into the crevice, but at the last moment he managed to grab the edge and hang on. He looked down into the bottomless pit that was the crevice and then reached over and grabbed the edge with both hands.

He then climbed out, breathing heavy.

He looked at his brother at the top of the hill and watched him walk away.

"Brother, wait!" he said. He got to his feet and ran up the hill, but when he reached the top Ed was no where to be seen. He had vanished. "Brother, why would you try to kill me? I'm only trying to help you."

"That's not your brother," a familiar voice said to him, and Al turned around and saw Maes Hughes casually lean against a tree. He was wearing a white suit. He was dead of course. Al knew he was dead. Maes Hughes was killed by the Homunculus known as Lust who was in disguise as the Fuher's assistant. "Your brother is too weak to reach you."

"Then who was that? Wrath or Envy? They can change shape."

"Neither, that is your brother but at the same time it's not."

"I don't understand. How can something be two things at once?"

"Your brother needs your help and he's calling out to you the only way he knows how."

"Through the waking hallucinations? But that makes no sense. He thinks I killed, well, me. He doesn't recognize me. Ed thinks my soul is bonded to that suit of armor. He doesn't remember that he restored me back to my human body."

"Then you must remind him," Maes said.

"Is this Ed's mind?"

"Yes, do you remember this place?"

Al looked around and took in the scenery. He nodded. "This was the day before we attempted the Human Transmutation to bring back our mother. Those kids down there running, laughing, are us; me, Ed and Winry."

"You seem to be enjoying yourself, why did you attempt the Human Transmutation then?"

"We didn't know what would happen. We thought we'd bring back mom and everything would be as it was before she got sick. If we knew then what we know now, we'd never would've attempted it. But after all the people we've helped with Alchemy by doing what we did, maybe it was a blessing in disguise."

"Then why do you doubt your accomplishments?"

Al looked at Maes and was confused. "I don't," he said. "But after all we did, did we actually accomplish anything? Did we really make a difference?"

"Those are questions you must ask yourself," Maes said.

Al knew he and his brother had done good. "So, if that wasn't Ed, who was he?" he said, getting back to the subject. "Whoever it was I must find him. He could have a clue to what's happening to my brother. I can't start second guessing myself. I'm here to save my brother from his waking hallucinations. I want to know what's happening to him."

"You might not like what you find, Alphonse."

"He's my brother, there's nothing in here that's disturbing."

The moment after he said that the sky darkened and beautiful landscape around him turned into a barren desert. The ground was so brittle that one step cracked the dry dirt beneath his feet. What just happened? Al thought to himself. Maes was gone and Al was all alone. In the distance the same stranger that looked like Ed stood looking at him, a bright light behind him casting his silhouette on the ground almost reaching him. But that was not his brother.

"What have you done with my brother," he demanded of the stranger.

"He doesn't want to see you," the stranger said. "He wants you to leave now!"

Al was awestruck. "No, he doesn't mean that," he said.

"He does, and he hates you. And if he were here he'd like to kill you."

"No, you don't speak for my brother. I want to see him right now. And who are you?"

"I'm your brother's protector, and he's told me he wants you to leave his mind."

"I'm here to help him, and I think you're the one who's the threat here."

Al clapped his hands together and touched the ground and did the exact same thing to him the stranger did to Al. The ground cracked open and a crevice opened up swallowing the stranger.. Al straightened up and dusted off his hands and honestly thought he had defeated him. But a moment later the stranger leapt out of the crevice and to safety. He stood facing Al and smiled amused. "You really didn't think that would get rid of me so easily, did you? Your brother has a deep respect for you, but c'mon! You can do better than that."

"Just watch me," Al said, and clapped his hands together, touched the ground and erected a stone circular encasement around the stranger. But the prison was short lived as the stranger blew it to pieces with his own alchemy. Al covered his face from flying debris, then looked back at him.

The stranger was standing in the middle of the encasement with his hands on his hips. "You honestly don't understand, do you? Ed is mine, and I control the world in his mind now. You brother will be my prisoner forever and there's nothing you can do to stop me. With every spell you cast, I can counteract it. What your brother knows, I know. And he knows a lot more than you."

"I'll never give up," Al said. "I'm here to save my brother from whatever is inflicting his mind, and it looks like you are it. Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?"

"I haven't done anything to your brother, this is his doing. Ask him yourself, if you can find him." The stranger laughed and then jumped in the air and vanished.

Al looked around for the stranger, but he was gone.

"Al," a weakened disembodied voice called out to him. "Help me."

"I'm coming for you brother. Where are you?" But Ed didn't answer. "Don't worry, brother. I'll find you, no matter where you are."

But he feared inside Ed's mind, it was going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

_To be continued... **  
**_


	3. Chapter 3

In the sky representing the sun was the Alchemy decal: a snake coiled around a cross with wings on either side and crowned. Symbolism or dream analyses wasn't Al's forte, in fact he knew very little about it, but he knew his brother was trying to tell him something with this.

His brother placed Alchemy on a high pedestal and his life was guided by its principles.

Al theorized that this was Ed's way of showing how in high regard he held Alchemy, representing it in the form of the sun, god-like in the heavens.

It might appear slightly chauvinistic and perhaps even a little narcissistic, but Ed was passionate about Alchemy and the responsibilities that came with wielding such unimaginable, awesome power.

And Al felt the same way and shared his brother's enthusiasm.

Al felt like he had been walking for hours across a barren desert inside Ed's mind. There seemed to be nothing here but miles and miles of emptiness. But he knew something had to be out here or this place would not exist in his brother's mind. This had to mean something. Or perhaps it meant nothing at all and showed just how empty-minded Ed really was?

But that couldn't be, Al thought. His brother was exceptionally intelligent. He could be reckless at times, but he had the mind of a well-to-do scholar-though his smarts mostly bordered on his usage of Alchemy. Very little was put towards other things.

Al remembered traveling across a barren desert on their way to their first adventure to get their bodies back. His journey here was very similar, but this time, he wasn't burdened with a suit of armor, which constantly filled up with sand and made him sink.

Throughout the years, Ed promised he would never quit to restore their bodies back to normal no matter what the cost. Even though sometimes the journey was fought with perils and dangerous marauders and murderers, he never relented, and constantly risked his life for the betterment of the cause. Ed was willing to lay down his life for what he believed in.

Al felt the same way here, and he was going to help his brother and make him well. The problem was he didn't know what was afflicting his brother and that made him uneasy. If he knew what he faced, he could formulate a plan and think up a mode of strategy. But he didn't. He was the thinker and his brother was the doer. Now he would have to be both!

He wiped sweat from his brow and stopped for a moment to take a breather. He was exceedingly thirsty, but as there was no water out here he would have to wait to quench his plait. But suddenly he saw something in the distance. The heat waves from the sand made it hard to see what he saw clearly, but he quickly caught a familiar smell. He smelt water.

Despite water having no distinguishable smell, sometimes it had a salty tinge to its mixture of nitrogen and oxygen content, and that was what he smelt.

From his vantage point it looked like a pool of water with surrounding Palm trees. But he thought that had to be an obvious ploy, his mind was playing tricks on him. It had to be a mirage. But as he slowly made his way towards it, its features became abundantly clear in the heat fog of the desert. He told himself it wasn't real, but it looked so intoxicatingly inviting that he found himself starting to run towards it-in the backwards belief that it was real.

He got within yards of it and leapt for the water…

…and suddenly landed face first in wet mud.

He heard mild chuckling.

He lifted his head; dirt, black mud clinching to his face, and found himself in a swampy area. He looked behind him and everywhere was mud, overgrown moss covered trees and stagnate, green polluted water. It smelled disgusting! He was definitely not going to drink that stuff.

He turned towards the laughter and found Ed, or the person who looked like Ed, sitting on a branch of a large, thick, moss covered tree. He had Ed's face, his body, even his clothes-right down to the red, bloodcloak Ed enjoyed wearing-but Al knew in his heart that this person was not his brother. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his jacket. Ed looked at him.

"Persistent, aren't you?" he said. "So eager to save your brother from the brink of death."

"And I will save him," Al said firmly.

"He doesn't want your help, he prefers to be left alone."

"I don't believe you, my brother called out to me."

"You're delusional; a trick of the mind. You want to help him so you're hearing things."

"I know what I heard and it was the voice of my brother. You are not him. Where is he?"

Ed looked at him irate. He then jumped down off the branch and faced Al. "He wants you outta his mind now and he has relayed me as his spokesperson."

Al crossed his arms over his chest, and said firm, "I'm not leaving until you take me to him. Ed is my brother and I want to know what this strange illness he has contracted is."

"I won't tell you again," he said. "Vacant your brother's mind or suffer the consequences."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I will do what I must to keep what it mine," Ed said, and clapped his hands together. He bent down and touched the ground and suddenly tree roots uprooted and coiled around Al. They came all the way up to his neck and stopped, binding him in their steel-like grip. Al struggled against them, but to no avail. Ed went to him. "Your brother is mine and I will keep him."

_To be continued..._ **  
**


	4. Chapter 4

The mind is a complex tool used for rational and irrational thought. It can combine both simplistic and complex levels of thought, organized and chaotic. With a single thought you can take a trip anywhere you imagine, real or fantastic. Anything within the mind is just as real as if it were happening right in front of you. And to Al, what was happening to him was beyond real. Ed was holding him captive inside his mind.

But what did this swamp represent to Ed? When they were kids they used to visit a river bank in the forest a few miles behind their house where they used to catch frogs. Ed loved it there, he said it was peaceful, and it helped him deal with the pain of their father leaving them. But here, this swamp, was not what Al remembered. There was no life here, only things that were dead or dying.

"Your brother is no longer the person you once knew and nor will he be ever again," the imposter said. "I'm now in control of both his mind and body. Your binding spell won't hold him for long."

Al looked at him surprised. "How do you know about that?" Al said.

"As soon as you entered your brother's mind I was privy to all your thoughts. Not only do I know everything Ed knows, but now I know everything you know. We are of one mind now and as long as I have you trapped here, you brother will remind my prisoner forever."

"You're driving him insane in the real world," Al said. "He no longer knows who I am."

"I am not the one who is doing that to him-he is! This is Ed's world, as simplistic as it is." The imposter looked around. "I thought an Alchemist would've had a larger imagination that this."

"My brother has a giant imagination, you just haven't seen all of it yet."

The imposter grabbed Al's neck with a hand and tightened his grip, then said, "You have a complex mind, I will relish surveying yours after I'm done with your brother's. You have some wonderful inner demons."

"Inner demons?"

"Skeletons in your closet you want no one would know about, much like your brother."

"Read my mind, you know mine is an open book."

"In due time, but I'm not finish with your brother. For now, you'll my prisoner and you'll stay here for as long as I see fit. There is no way you can escape Ed's mind, not unless I wish it!"

"Who are you?" Al finally asked.

"I was wondering when you'd get to that." He released Al. "You can call me Guilt."

"Guilt? What kind of a name is that?"

"Your brother created me. I exist in his mind as a manifestation of the guilt he carries with him."

"What does my brother have to feel guilty about?"

"I'll show you," he said, and suddenly the scenery behind Guilt changed and Al saw himself and Ed in the basement of their house drawing a chalk outline of an Alchemy circle on the floor. This was the night they attempted Human Transmutation to bring their mother back. The events unfolded just as they had, and Al's soul was fused with the suit of armor. Ed sacrificed his arm to do so. Blood covered the floor. Al in the suit of armor looked at his hands and knew something had gone terribly wrong. He saw his brother unconscious on the floor and picked him up and ran upstairs with Ed in his arms. The scene ended and the swamp returned. Guilt turned back to Al and said, "That is what your brother still feels guilty about, trapping you in that armor for all those years. From that day I was born and have been festering every since. I was only recently able to break away and now I'm in control. I control everything that is your brother now."

"You're killing him!"

"Emotions are quintessential in human existence and sometimes they become too much, overbearing. But I am not the one who is killing him-you are. You are a constant reminder of how much you lost. How he stole those years from you, losing nearly five years of your childhood to something he knew you shouldn't have attempted. He forced you, and you were too weak-minded to say no."

"No, I believed in my brother," Al said. "And we both honestly believed we could bring Mom back."

"And what conclusion have you come to now?"

"Alphonse is not the issue here," Maes Hughes said. He came out from behind a tree, he wore a white suit. "The question is not what conclusion the boys have come to, but what conclusion Ed is satisfied with." He approached the boys, then said, "Guilt, do you call yourself?" He then saw Al trapped within the roots. "Al, Ed has been trying to reach you, but Guilt is preventing him from doing so. He needs your strength."

"But what can I do?" Al said.

"You must reassure your brother that he no longer needs to feel guilty about what he did to you."

"But he doesn't," Al said. "I hold no harsh feelings towards Ed. We were kids, and kids make mistakes."

"You need to make him believe in that by defeating Guilt," Maes said. "Only through your strength will the real Ed reemerge. If Guilt is the source of Ed's illness, then the illness must be eradicated; cured."

"You're not going to get rid of me quite that easily," Guilt said. "You can't wipe out years of guilt."

"That's true," Maes said. "But perhaps with Al's help, Ed will start to realize he is no longer has to deal with it alone."

"My brother is not alone. I love him. And I will help him, no matter what it takes."

Guilt laughed, and he crossed his arms across his chest, smiling. "Courageous words, but you're trapped and I refuse to let you go. There's no way you can even attack me like that. And Ed can't help you."

Guilt laughed again, but Al didn't share his amusement.

"There's more than one way to cast an Alchemy spell," Al said, and as they spoke, he had carved a rough transmutation circle with his index finger nail into one of the roots of the tree, and he touched it. There was a bright flash of light and the roots exploded away from his body; broken roots scattered everywhere!

Guilt jumped out of the path of the explosion. "Impressive," he said. "You're a master of two transmutation methods of Alchemy. But you forget, in here, I know everything Ed knows and what he has seen I can conjure up just by thinking of it. We're in his mind, after all, and in here, anything and everything is possible."

Guilt snapped his fingers and a flame burst forth, igniting his fingers with flame.

And suddenly, he turned into Roy Mustang; his clothes the same as the State "Flame Alchemist".

"Time to pay the piper, Al, for not leaving your brother's mind," he said, and launched an attack.

_To be continued... **  
**_


	5. Chapter 5

The ground quaked with a series of violent explosions brought about by his attack. The ground opened up and fire erupted from a large crevice igniting the entire area in fire. Guilt had taken moisture from the ground and oxygen from the air to craft his fire, and used the swamp gas odor to serve as the perfect go-between to set everything ablaze. Trees burned, fire danced across the surface of the water, and the ground became so hot by the blazing temperatures that the place looked like it belonged in Hell!

Maes Hughes stood in the midst of this destruction, but was unaffected by its effects. He was dead after all, but he knew something that Al might not be aware of at this point of time, which was, in the mind, if you have a working understanding of how to control your thoughts, nothing could hurt you in here.

The last time he saw Al the ground had fallen out from beneath his feet and he had fallen into the fiery crevice and to possibly a horrible death. The fire engulfed the entire area and no human could survive in these unbelievable harsh conditions. And for the inexperienced, as Guilt had said, like in reality, mortals have an uncanny fear of what is not real, so what can not be explained becomes real to them.

"You see," Guilt said laughing. "Your pathetic friend was no match for me. Ed's brother is now dead and through an equivalent exchange I will soon have his body. I will finally be able to leave this wretched place and partake in the wonders of the outside world, the true reality outside Edward Elric's mind."

"Was that your intention from the very beginning?" Maes Hughes wondered. "Allow me to present a theory, if you may. I don't believe you are who you say you are. I think you're an imposter, an infusion of someone else's consequence, posing as Ed's guilty consequence for what he did to his brother."

"You're the insightful one," Guilt said, he had reverted back to looking like Ed. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Maes Hughes. I'm a friend of Edward and Alphonse Elric. In my life I helped the boys, counseled them when I could, and hopefully directed them in the right direction. From what I saw of Al, I believed I did. They were doing fine until you came along. You're what's killing Edward Elric!"

Ed clapped his hands but didn't perform Alchemy. He was instead applauding Maes Hughes for his deduction. "Brilliantly deduced for a military clerk," he said.

"I wasn't a military clerk," Maes said. "I handled military public affairs."

"Either way, you were a lapdog for the military and you died for them. Edward has fond memories of you and your daughter, Alicia. She was very sad and confused when you died. 'Why are they burying daddy?' she said at your funeral. You were killed by an un-human person called a Homunculus for sticking your nose into her private affairs. You should've left well enough alone, as should you now."

"I'm getting involved because Al needs my help to rescue his brother from the clutches this lunacy. Leave Ed's mind now, he has suffered enough. He hasn't done anything to deserve this."

"Deserve? He's done plenty. He tried to kill me, and now I'm going to kill him, and his brother. Two birds with one stone."

"What do you mean Ed tried to kill you? Are you a transmuted soul?"

"Yes, but not like what you think."

"Then what exactly are you?" Maes asked.

"That's what I would like to know," Al said, as he climbed out of the fiery crevice. But instead of Al the human, he was the suit of armor he had been transmuted to for so many years. Guilt was in disbelief. "How am I still alive, you wonder?" his voice echoing and reverberating through the metal.

Guilt nodded. Maes smiled.

"I simply realized that if I was going to survive I had to change my way of thinking. You said anything and everything is possible here and it occurred to me that if you could change your appearance, so could I, and since this armor would protect me from the fall and from fire it seemed the perfect choice."

"Thata boy, Al," Maes said smiling.

Al clapped his hands together and generated a whirlwind to pick up water from the swamp to dissipate the fire; smoke filled the air and the fire was doused. Both were also soaked. The area flooded the area up to their ankles. Al transformed himself back to his human self. "Two can play at this game, Guilt. And since your hands are now wet you won't be able to ignite your fingers for another fire attack."

"You've finally figured it out," Maes said.

"I should've thought of it before, but it didn't occur to me until now. I've been searching for Ed, but he has been with us all the long." He looked at Guilt. "To cure my brother, I must help him defeat you. You are the cause of his suffering. You look like Ed, and that's because you are my brother, but not in the manner as you had me to be believe. Anger and guilt are very powerful emotions and if left to fester could take on a life of their own similar to a transmuted soul; a being living inside another."

Guilt didn't look pleased. "So, you finally figured it out," he said, "but it doesn't matter. Regardless of how I was brought to life is of no consequence. The fact of the matter is I've grown beyond emotion. I'm a living entity now and I will live on and through you I will escape the confines of Ed's mind. If I remain here, Ed will die. I can kill him in an instant with a single thought."

"But you won't do that or you'll die too," Al said.

"You've lost," Maes said. "Return Ed's body back to him."

Guilt looked at him, Maes majestic form glowing a dim white. "I'll never relinquish his body without another to take its place, but you must give it to me willingly. Equivalent exchange. Trade one thing for another. You must agree to the trade or neither of us will survive. Ed will die soon."

"Ed won't die, not if I have anything to say about it," Al said.

Guilt smirked. "Why didn't I think of it before?" he said. "Why should I expend energy when I can let your brother do the work for me? I'll grant your request to see your brother; this time your real brother, and he'll fight my battle for me. What a perfect solution!"

With a thought, Guilt willed Ed, the real Ed, into existence. He appeared beside him like a ghost would exhibiting a spiritual essence; much like Maes Hughes. But he looked sad; Ed was frowning.

"Ed!" Al called out to him, but Ed didn't respond. His face looked mindless, his eyes lifeless.

"He can't hear you, his mind is now completely mine, and if you want him back you'll have to defeat him." He said. "Call it a wager, but if he defeats you, you will relinquish your mind and body to me."

"And if I win?" Al said.

"Your brother will be yours."

"Al, don't trust him," Maes said.

"Agreed," Al said quickly without heeding Maes warning.

Guilt smirked again. "Then it's a deal, but I assure you, you won't win," he said. "Ed, be so kind as to defeat your brother so I can take his mind and body and finally be free from yours."

Ed stepped in front of Guilt and clapped his hands, a portion of his right metal arm transmuted into a long blade.

"You may have fought fierce battles in the past and defeated countless foes, Alphonse, but can you defeat your own brother?" Guilt said smirking, as if he knew something they didn't know.

_Even if he does defeat his brother, he'll kill him all the same and I'll take Alphonse Elric's body. By agreeing to this match, an equivalent exchange agreement has been made and regardless of the outcome I'll have a new body to live out a new life. So, fight him you fool, and kill yourselves in the process. My destiny is set._

Winry sighed.

Two hours had passed since Al Mind Melded with Ed and she was getting worried.

She didn't know how long this would take and she wished it would end soon.

Ed had another one of his violent fits since Al entered his mind and it nearly ripped the tape off his head, but she managed to keep Al's hands attached to Ed's head during the fit and wrapped more tape around Al's hands and Ed's head just to make sure neither one of them would be separated from the other.

Al told her under no circumstances to remove his hands from Ed's head so he could find his body when and if he returned from finding out what was afflicting Ed. But what was taking so long? She wondered.

She just had to trust him and hope Al learned the secret behind his brother's mental illness before it was too late, and Ed died.

_To be continued..._


	6. Chapter 6

Brother versus brother.

The concept unnerved and frightened Al.

He couldn't fight his own brother, little lone hurt him in any way. But as he faced him and with Ed poised to strike with his right arm transmuted into a long, slender, metallic blade, he feared he had no choice. He would need to get past his brother in order to get to Guilt, the string master behind this whole puppet show.

He needed a weapon and anything would do.

He looked down and saw a collection of blackened heavy-looking stones that were burnt by the fire. They peaked out of the water that surrounded his feet. Then he had a thought. He could use these-and for what he had in mind, they'd make the perfect weapon to confront his brother's metallic blade with.

He clapped his hands and bent down to touch each stone. His knowledge of minerals helped him reconstitute their basic structure and transmuted the zinc, iron, and other metallic elements, into the blade of a samurai sword. He then fashioned the wooden handle from a piece of a tree that was floating in the water and fused them both together.

He picked up the sword and held it by its handle. He needed to fashion a grip for the sword. There was no rawhide available he could transmute so he would have to make a substitute. He ripped a portion of his shirt and wrapped it around its base. This will protect his hands from slivers.

He was now ready to face his brother.

Maes Hughes stood on the sidelines.

He was unable to help physically, despite wanting to do so in the most urgent of ways. But this battle dwelled heavily in the Alchemy arts, and even if he had a physical body to work with he would be no match for either of them. He knew nothing of Alchemy other than what he had read, and it took a special kind of talent to wield such a powerful tool. So he could only watch and hope things turned out for the best.

Ed eyed his brother and expressed a look of total and utter hatred for him.

Ed was being controlled by the entity that called himself Guilt, and he was using Ed's guilt of what he had done to his brother years ago to make himself stronger. He wanted to leave Ed's body and emerge in the real world. But he needed a willing host to transfer his consciousness to.

Since he was born in Ed's mind out of guilt and later given consciousness by a source even Guilt didn't understand, he wanted more than Ed's mind could give him. He was alive and he wanted to experience everything life had going for it; everything dark and malicious.

"Al, I urge you to stop this before it goes any further," Maes Hughes started to say. "Fighting your brother will only give Guilt what he wants. He's trying to trick you."

Al shook his head. "I know what I'm doing," he said to Maes. "If this is the only way I will be able to convince my brother that I no longer have any misgivings towards him for what he did to me years ago, then this is what I must do."

"Do you still hate your brother for what he did, transmuting your soul into that suit of armor?"

Al looked at Maes and said, "Of course not!"

"Why do I sense you're lying?" He said. "Bury those negative emotions deep down so Guilt can't gain strength off them. As long as you're connected to Ed's mind, Guilt can feed off both of you."

Then Maes stopped for a moment as if he had an sudden epiphany.

"No, wait? Tell your brother how you feel. Tell him how he stole five years away from you. Release those emotions. If they're no longer pinned up Guilt can't feed off them."

Al looked at him strange. "What?" he said. "Forget it! That would only hurt Ed."

"On the contrary, he should know how you actually feel. You need to get it out in the open so the two of you can deal with it together."

"I can't," Al said quickly. "I can't make Ed any more depressed than he already feels. It'll destroy him."

"Sometimes you must hurt the ones you love even if it hurts you as well," Maes said. "Ed must come to the realization of what he did and start the healing process. Your brother still harbors tremendous guilt for what he did to you. From that one emotion Guilt was born. You must tell Ed how you feel and what he took away from you. It's the only way you'll save your brother."

Guilt rolled his eyes and tilted his head slightly to the right as if bored. "Are you two done blabbering yet?" he said. He looked at Al. "There's nothing you can say to your brother to prevent what is about to happen. I now control everything that is your brother. And if it wasn't for your binding spell I'd have a body too! But that's only a minor nuisance. Once you lose this fight, I'll use your body to lift the spell."

Al smirked. "I don't think so," he said.

"What justifies that smugness?"

"Nothing," he said smiling. "I'm ready."

Al readied his sword.

Ed readied his blade.

"Can you really kill your brother, Al? He's always been better than you in Alchemy. He's a master and you are still but a student. You no longer have that suit of armor to protect you. You're flesh and blood as he is. And with my control in here I'm restricting you from altering your physical form. You can't change like you did to protect yourself in the crevice. Ed is now mine to command. He will show you no mercy."

"Then I will show my brother no mercy," Al said seriously. "If defeating Ed is the only way I will get to you, then I have no choice." He looked directly at Ed. "Brother, I will save you no matter what. And for the record, I did hate you for what you did to me even though I said I could never hate you. Having my soul bonded to that suit of armor wasn't an easy thing to live with and everyday I worried I would never get my body back. But I don't hate you any longer. We learned a lot on our travels and if I had it all to do over again I wouldn't change a thing. I love you brother, and that will never deny."

"Such sentimental rubbish," Guilt said.

"You have no concept of love," Al said to Guilt. "All you know is hate and culpability. That's what separates my brother from you. He knows I love him, and we'll get through this together like we've always done."

"This isn't a fairy tale," Guilt said. "Do you really think this is going to end with a happy ending?"

"Maybe not, but I'll never know unless I try. I've never backed down from a fight and I'm not going to start now even if its against my brother. I will free Ed from your machiavellian control and restore his sanity."

"Such a valiant speech. Too bad words mean nothing. Actions dictate a person's true intentions."

"You're wrong, Guilt. Sometimes words are more powerful than any action can be."

Al looked at his brother and smiled thin as he saw glimmer of hope in his brother's eyes. It looked as if his words of love were getting through to him. Ed was smiling.

"Al," he softly said. "Help me."

"Stay strong brother, help is on the way," he said.

Maes Hughes smiled. "It looks like your control over Ed is weakening," he said.

Guilt looked at Ed and noticed he had lowered his blade. He also noticed Ed had a hand on his head as if reacting and recovering from a headache or a very bad dream.

"No, I won't be denied!" he said angry.

He put his palms together as if about to prey, shut his eyes, and muttered something under his breath as if reciting a chant.

Suddenly Ed clutched his head with both hands and collapsed to his knees. He screamed as if in colossal pain, and shouted, "No! I won't to fight my brother! Please don't make me! NO!"

"You will do as I command," Guilt said. "Now stand up and fight your brother!"

Guilt's influence was much too strong for Ed to overcome in his beleaguered mental state and he succumbed. He dropped his hands and then raise his head. Tears streamed down his face, but he was no longer sad or in pain. All he could feel was what Guilt wanted him to feel and that was angry.

He got to his feet and raised his metal blade in preparation to fight.

Guilt opened his eyes and grinned sinister. "Ed is mine again," he said. "I've reinforced the idea I implanted in his mind earlier, that he hates you with a passion, Al. Those violent episodes he's been experiencing in the real world were my doing. I knew you'd come into Ed's mind to see what was happening to him knowing how no modern medicine held any explanation for his unheard condition." He continued. "Ed was with you when you were shown the Mind Meld technique. After learning of this technique I decided to weave a little plan to get you in here. It was the only way I could get you to agree to the deal we made."

He grinned sinister again. "I've locked away his memories of how and when you were restored to your human body and convinced him that you are the one who killed his real brother. He doesn't recognize you in your human form. He believes you destroyed the blood seal that kept his brother bonded to the suit of armor. He now sees you as a Homunculus who stole his brother's body from the Gate and wants revenge. To him, his real brother is dead and you killed him!"

Al squeezed a fist at his side trying to control his anger, but his mind wouldn't stop flooding with feelings of unbridled rage. "I'll make you pay for what you've done to him!" he said.

"As I said, words mean nothing," he said. "Defeat your brother. Let's see just how long you can last again him." Guilt chuckled. _I want your body and I'm going to do everything to get it!_ "But you'll never win."

"We'll just see about that," Al said. "I have just as much resolve as my brother."

Al gripped the handle of his samurai sword with both hands and told himself that he had to win or everything he and his brother had fought for in the last five years was for nothing. He couldn't allow Guilt to take his body, that would defeat the purpose of getting it back. He didn't want to fight his brother, but this was something he had to do, and had to be successful - no matter what!

"MURDERER!" Ed screamed, and launched his attack.

He ran at Al, and Al gripped the samurai sword tight.

This was going to be his greatest fight ever and against the greatest opponent he'll face in his young life.

His very own brother.

_To be continued... **  
**_


	7. Chapter 7

Ed charged towards Al, running like a man on a mission, his metallic blade raised above his head poised to strike, ready to kill.

Al readied his sword to defend against his brother.

He wasn't looking forward to fighting him. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but Guilt gave him little recourse. He had to fight and win against his brother no matter what. But right now, that was his dilemma. How was he going to defeat his brother in one-on-one combat?

He'd never fought his brother before and wasn't sure what to expect.

Ed was under Guilt's sinister influence and with that his brother's actions will be irrational and irregular. His mind will be filled with anger and rage and a person with nothing but revenge on their mind was not a stable person to be fighting with especially when they were as reckless and unpredictable as Ed was.

But what if he could use that to his advantage? Battling your opponent is much more than strictly fighting. It takes strategy and heart to overcome your enemy. That's how he'll win over Ed, he'll use his over confidence against him. He'll lull Ed into a false sense of security and then strike when he least expected it. All Al needed was to wait for the perfect moment to implement his strategy.

Ed came at Al and sliced hard and fast through the air with his metallic blade. He aimed for Al's head. Al maneuvered and angled his sword to block. Then repeated the process again and again as Ed poured on the pressure delivering wave after wave of attack.

Al wasn't as endowed a swordsman as his brother. He didn't have the years of practice wielding a weapon of its make trapped in that suit of armor for all those years. But this was a life and death situation and he knew what was at stake. He had to believe that the sword he just transmuted from life's minerals was an extension of his very being. It was his weapon of choice to defend against his brother, so it had to be the best!

But there was something different about this sword.

He had fashioned it after his father sword and he found a hidden confidence when wielding it.

He remembered when he first saw his father's sword. It was late at night, years ago, back when they were children, after hours of reading their father's private Alchemy book reserve. Ed had said not to touch it, but like all children his age Al was curious and just had to. After Ed fell asleep on a stack of books, he lifted it off its mount on the wall and held its black sheath in his hands. He was careful when he took it out and saw its shiny, metal, and very sharp blade, and that night he developed a unexplainable fascination and attraction to it. He liked how it felt in his hand and despite the danger of wielding such a powerful weapon he knew he had to learn how to use it.

So he practiced with it for months in secret in the forest by the stream next to their house, learning how to use it from what he read in books. But he never got to use the knowledge he learned in actual combat. By the time he started getting good with it their mother got sick and he forgot all about it. He imagined that the sword was still in the same place the last time he saw it, in a hallow oak tree. Ed and his mother never missed it, and when they burned down their family home, the sword was supposedly destroyed.

But it didn't matter now. That was all in the past. Where the sword came from was a moot issue. His knowledge in wielding the sword he had now took precedence. He was fighting his brother and he had to focus on the present. He was in dangerous territory and if he wasn't careful he'd lose his brother's soul.

Their swords clanged together like two titans in a heated battle over the planet. And in a twisted sort of a fate it was just that. This was a battle over a soul, Ed's soul, and Al had no intentions of allowing Guilt to control Ed anymore. He had to win against his brother and prove to Guilt that love conquered all!

Ed attacked again and again, his metallic blade clanging against Al's samurai sword, attacking with swift merciless strikes, pounding and slicing with malicious movement of forethought, as if being controlled. Which in fact Ed was. Guilt stood off to the side watching the battle and was probably mentally feeding Ed his moves as he was making them. Mental telepathy. And there was a certain familiarity to Ed's attacks, Al noticed, as if exhibiting a repeated pattern, and in an almost novice manner.

His brother wasn't fighting, it was obvious. Guilt was using Ed's body as a go-between to make it look like he was fighting. And it soon became apparent as Ed continued to attack with the same moves over and over again. The puppet master was pulling the strings and Ed was dancing to Guilt's flexible fingers.

"Stop this battle, Guilt," Al finally said. "I know you're using Ed's body to fight me. Ed's fighting style is much more rich than this. My brother's heart just isn't in it."

Ed and Al clashed swords again and ended up testing the others strength in an X formation.

Then all of sudden Ed jumped back a few meters as if receiving a mental order to do so. He lowered his blade and just stood there. But his face still showed the same emotional mentality.

"Then strike him down, he's defenseless," Guilt said. "Defeat your brother and win back his soul."

Al squeezed the handle of his sword tightly. "I'm not falling for it, Guilt," he said, slightly lowering his sword, but made sure he was prepared in case Ed decided to attack him again at a moment's notice. "You wouldn't willingly forfeit this battle unless you had something greater to gain. Tell me what that is."

Guilt smirked. "And ruin the fun? Never." He said. "Well, if you prefer it, then let the fight continue."

Ed screamed in an enraged manner and charged towards Al.

Al turned back to his brother and readied himself for Ed's attack.

Suddenly, as Ed ran towards him, he clapped his hands and his arm turned into a large square battering ram. Al was momentarily surprised by the sudden change and in a moment of poor mental timing, he tried but failed to move out of the way before Ed barreled into him with tremendous force.

The impact of the hit tossed Al backwards several feet and he slid on his back for several more due to the slipperiness of the foot deep water. His sword went flying past him and the tip of the blade embedded itself in the trunk of a thick petrified oak tree.

Al looked at his sword with shock and awe and then looked back at Ed in the same manner.

Ed stood at Al's feet. He clapped his hands again and restored the metallic blade to his right arm. He raised it and brought it down. But Al quickly rolled out of the way of Ed's strike and ran to get his sword. He plucked it out of the tree trunk and turned to face his brother. Both his hands on the handle grip.

Guilt chuckled, and smiled. He looked to be enjoying this.

Maes Hughes felt the complete opposite.

Ed made a swift sideways slice through the air and Al ducked. Al then somersaulted away from his brother and then quickly got to his feet. He turned and positioned himself to block an impeding attack, but it never came. He looked at Ed and saw his brother had made a grave error during the last attack. In attacking the way he did, he accidentally embedded his blade into the trunk of the very same tree his sword had been stuck in. Ed pulled at his blade, struggling to get it free, but his effects were to no avail.

This was the moment, Al thought. This was his time to strike his brother down.

But as he raised his blade to do so, Ed stopped pulling at his arm and looked at Al as if seeing the end near.

Al saw the absolute trepidation in Ed's face and suddenly stopped, lowering his sword at his side.

"I can't do it," he said. "You're my brother."

"What's the matter, Al? Afraid?" Guilt said. "This is your moment. Strike him down and end this duel."

Al quickly turned to Guilt and gave him an ugly nasty stare. Right now, he hated Guilt with a passion and he wanted so much to go over there and slice him in two. But he couldn't. He didn't know what it would do to Ed. Guilt was a part of his conscious mind and he couldn't just eliminate a portion of Ed's waking self. That could destroy him and more importantly kill him. And that would defeat the purpose of this duel.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? But I'm not going to do your dirty work. I won't kill Ed. There must be another way to free him from you."

Ed managed to yank his blade free from the tree.

"Too bad," Guilt said with a thin smile. "Then I suppose you'll be the one to die, and your body will be mine!"

And with a sudden thrust, Ed impaled Al through the chest with his blade.

Al looked at his brother with a expression of complete shock. He then looked at the blade sticking through his chest and was agape at how this could be. He had let his guard down and Ed had impaled him.

Ed pulled the blade out and it was covered in Al's blood. Al dropped his sword and put his hands to his bloody wound. He stumbled a few steps backwards and then looked into his brother's eyes. He rose his hands in the air and showed Ed that they were covered in blood.

"Brother," he managed to said weak. Then he let out a few heavy breaths before saying, "I forgive you."

Al's eyes rolled back and then he collapsed to his knees in a wobble state. His hands dropped to his sides and then he fell face first into the water. The impact splashed water and blood onto Ed's clothes. Soon after, Al's blood began to stain the water around him dark red.

Ed stood over his brother, frozen, and in utter shock. His mind exploded with what he had just done. He turned to Guilt and couldn't believe what this imposer who looked like him had made him do. His memories returned in a blinding flash and he suddenly realized what he had done.

He dropped to his knees and screamed, "AL!"

He then turned Al over in the water and cuddled his brother's body in his arms, holding him tight against his chest. Tears streamed down Ed's face like a water fall.

Guilt smiled, and then said, "I win," softly chuckling to himself.

_To be continued..._


	8. Chapter 8

Al lay dead in Ed's arms. His brother's blood staining his black State Alchemist clothes.

Ed sobbed silently and tears cascaded down his pale white cheeks like an unending water fall as he held Al close to his bleeding heart. He couldn't stop crying and he didn't want to. They were tears of sorrow for his brother, a person he loved more than life itself. And he had killed him!

Ed wished this was all a dream and he'd wake up at any moment. But this was no dream. Nor was it one of his waking hallucinations that Al had told him about. This was real, and as real as reality could get! He recognized he was fully aware of his mental facilities, he was no longer haunted by Guilt's influence. He had broken free of his control. The sight of his brother's corpse cut the strings of his puppet master.

He cried and nuzzled his bother's face against his chest, hugging him tightly. He didn't want to let go, he never wanted to let go. He wanted to be with his brother. It was his obligation to be at his side forever. They were brothers and as he was the eldest he had to look after him. But he had failed in that job, he had allowed an outsider to take Al away from him and he couldn't do a thing about it but watch.

As Guilt had control of his body he felt trapped and all he could do was watch through his own eyes the events that transpired. Watch as he, his own body, and Guilt's control over it, murdered his flesh and blood. And all Al had wanted to do was save him. "How could you make such a deal, Al? You idiot!" he said.

His eyes filled with tears, he turned and looked at the imposter who posed as him. He still didn't know who this person was, but he didn't care anymore. Whoever he was he had murdered his brother, and now he was going to pay. He didn't care what happened to him anymore. If he died, he'd join his brother. But he was going to take Guilt with him. He was going to get his revenge and there was nothing that was going to stop him.

He gently lay Al down in the water face-up and rose to his feet. He turned and faced his brother's murderer, the evil puppet master. He clenched his teeth and suddenly his mind was filled with rage. He brought his blade in front of him and wiped a finger in Al's blood. He then made a mark on each cheek as if ceremoniously marking himself before going into battle.

"You win? I don't think so. If you want Al's body, you're gonna hafta get pass me!" He said with an almost insane look in his eyes. He was so filled with a blinding hate for Guilt that he was prepared to do anything.

Guilt chuckled sinister and amused. "I'm afraid not," he said, grinning dubiously. "The first principle of Alchemy is equivalent exchange. I restored your consciousness to you in exchange for Al's physical body. The law dictates that that is a equitable exchange. He acknowledged the deal willingly. Though he didn't have to. I would have taken his body despite who won. His fate was sealed even before the fight began!"

"What do you mean?" Ed asked.

"The moment he entered your mind in a futile attempt to save your sanity an equivalent exchange was made. He promised he would give up anything to save you and this is the result. I needed a willing body to host my consciousness and now with Al departed to the great beyond, his body is now mine. I wanted to see who was strongest of the two, if he won the fight I wouldn't taken his body anyway. So matter who won the fight, my prize was assured. But I enjoyed the fight. You didn't disappoint me, Ed. I knew you would win."

"No, I lost," he said straightly. "I killed my brother and he meant everything to me. He was my courage and my reason for being. Without him to guide me on the straight and narrow path I would've probably turned out like Scar with an unquenchable thirst for revenge against the military for taking my father away from us."

"You're placing blame where it doesn't belong and you know that," he said."You became a State Alchemist of your own free will."

"Yes," Ed agreed. "It was the only way I could gain access to restricted material that could've been used to restore my brother back to his human body. But in the end, all we needed was each other. I loved my brother, he meant everything to me. And now you're gonna pay for what you did. You used me to get to him. Now it's time to turn the tables. I heard what my brother said and now that I know he forgives me for what I did to him, my guilt is completely gone."

Guilt chuckled amused. "I am still here so it's not completely gone," he said. "You can't just eradicate emotion from the mind. It's impossible. Besides I'm much more now that was first given birth by your guilt conscious. I'm a living entity."

"I think its time you told Ed who you really are," Maes Hughes said.

Ed had forgotten that he was here.

Maes was dead, but he would forever be alive in Ed's thoughts. He had a special bond with the man, because he helped deliver his daughter. But why was he here? He'd have to ask him later.

Ed looked back at Guilt.

"Not yet," he said with an insane smirk. "I'm not finished having fun."

"Fun!" Ed said angry. "How dare you!"

"What would you give to get your brother's soul back?" Guilt asked him.

Ed was temporarily taken back by the question. "Ed's dead, it's too late," he said.

"What if he's not dead? For the sake of argument, what would you give in exchange?"

"I'd give anything, even my own life. He deserves to live, not me."

Suddenly something grabbed Ed's ankle and he jumped. He looked down and saw that Al's hand had grabbed it. "Al?" he said. But then he looked at his brother's face, his eyes were lifeless. His eyes were pure white, there were no pupils. They had glazed over. "What have you done to him?" Ed said.

"I've brought him back temporarily."

"This isn't my brother, he's-it's a zombie."

"Quite right. This is a representation of his physical body he manifested, but it has no soul. I now control it as I will soon hold dominance over his physical body in the real world." Al's body got on all fours and then rose, wobbling to his feet, the bloody wound in his chest still oozing with blood. Ed looked at him horrified. "I've brought him back for a single purpose. If you completely destroy the last remnants of his body, I will give you back his soul."

Ed looked a Guilt wide-eyed and speechless. "What? You mean you have Al's soul? Where?" He said.

"This is my world until I decide to leave it, Ed. In here, everything lives with or without a physical body. Even though it may look like you have killed his body, what you see is a mere representation of a recognized part of himself. A person's soul can never die. Despite it not being visible, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist in some other form."

"You mean Al's soul is still here?"

"Yes. And if you don't do what I tell you, his soul will be forever mine to torment."

Ed extended his blade to twice the size than it would normally go and used his entire automail arm to make it. He then pointed it at Guilt. "I'm warning you, if you don't tell me where Al's soul is…"

Suddenly Al's zombie body grabbed him and held him tight across the chest, locking his finger tips. Al's body then transformed into the suit of armor he had been bonded to for nearly five years. In this physical form, Al, or what pretended to be his brother, was nearly invincible. But it wasn't Al, only his body that Guilt allowed to continue to exist inside Ed's mental plain.

Ed struggled to free himself, but to no avail.

"You refuse to fight your brother's body? Then fine, I'll keep your brother's soul forever."

"No please, give me back my brother's soul. I'll fight his body."

Guilt nodded and Al released him.

Ed felt his chest. Al had squeezed so tightly that his breastbones felt bruised. He looked at the suit of armor and glanced into the eye sockets. There was no life and he couldn't sense Al. Where was his soul? Guilt had it. Maybe if he killed Guilt, Al's soul would return to his body?

"Are you ready to fight, Ed?" Guilt said to him.

"I think I have better idea," Ed said, and with a quick thrust with his blade, impaled Guilt through the stomach. Guilt gasped as the blade penetrated his body and broke through his back.

Ed grinned innately as he thought he finally delivered the final blow and this was all over. But instead of dying, Guilt merely grinned innately back. Ed looked at him confused.

Guilt snorted with a smirk and put his hands on his hips, looking at the blade that had been forced through his body. "That wasn't nice," he said. "In fact, it tickled." Then with an extension of his hand, an invisible force tossed Ed backwards, ejecting the blade from Guilt's stomach.

Ed landed in the water with a thud and a loud splash. He had landed on something and felt his butt. Then he felt something underneath him. He grabbed it and brought it out from the water. It was Al's samurai sword. Funny, in his mind, he would never have thought things in the real world had true substance. However, as this world, created by his mind and construed as real, everything here was. So Al was able to make this.

He clapped and transmuted his automail arm back to normal so he could grip the sword properly. He got to his feet and then witnessed Guilt's stomach regenerate itself before his eyes and seal the wound as if nothing had transpired. But for some reason, it didn't surprise Ed.

He was starting to understand.

This world inside his mind was real and yet it could be controlled. So if you truly believed in something here, it was possible that it could exist or happen. The mind was so complex, erratic and interchangeable that anything was possible here. That's how Guilt was able to generate. He believed nothing could harm him in this place. Ed had to start thinking in the same manner if he was going to defeat him.

"Time to die now, Ed," Guilt said.

And the suit of armor attacked him.

_To be continued... **  
**_


	9. Chapter 9

"Where am I?" Al asked in a whisper, feeling tried as if he had just awokenafter a prolonged, but induced sleep.

He sat up and shivered feeling cold.

Suddenly he felt an overwhelming feeling of abandonment. But why?

He was in the place where there was nothing but darkness.

He strained them in hope of glimpsing a spec of light, but everywhere he turned all was black.

It was as if he had awoken in what could only be described as limbo space, a place between worlds-the living and dead-where life didn't exist or resided in an unrest state. A spiritual realm where a spirit came to pass into the underworld, a waiting area. But was this death? Did he die? Was this where the departed went to pass on to the other side? Funny thing was, he didn't feel dead. In fact, he felt very much alive.

No, these weren't his feelings.

They were someone else's.

He felt another presence in the void with him. He couldn't explain it, he just did.

"Hello?" he called out, but there was no reply. He called out a second time, his voice echoed in the void. But again he received no answer.

He felt the ground. It felt like glass. It was smooth and cold, and was probably the reason why he felt cold. He got to his feet and tried to get warm, rubbing his arms. Then he noticed something strange, he was hardly wearing any clothes. He was half naked, other than a pair of shorts than felt tight against crotch and a shirt than pitched his chest, he had nothing else on. They were so tight that he could hardly breath. No wonder he was feeling cold. What was he wearing?

But once again, that feeling of abandonment came over him, and he didn't know why?

He called out into the abyss again, but it was futile. No one replied.

Where was here? But he thought a more important question was, why was he here? Was he still in Ed's mind or somewhere else entirely?

He remembered he had lost the fight against his brother and he fainted in the swamp water. He then awoke and found himself here in this abysmal place.

He felt his stomach, but the scar where Ed had impaled him wasn't there. And he found that strange.

Then he had a weird thought. What if all this was being generated by Guilt's mind? Everything he and Ed were experiencing was in fact a fabricated fantasy made to look real? But it certainly felt real to him. Or perhaps that's how Guilt wanted it to feel? In the mind, things can seem more real than anywhere.

A dream was very similar. In a dream, you don't know you're experiencing one, you believe you're experiencing real life in real time. It's very rare that someone is able to become aware of knowing they are having a dream. But in theory, if they know they are having one, it can be manipulated and controlled. The dreamer can fashion the circumstances to their design and control what happens to them until they awake.

Could he do that here?

Was he sleeping, and was this a dream? Was everything he experienced been a dream, including entering Ed's mind?

He closed his eyes really tight and imagined another place. He imagined the safest place he could think of, in Rockbell. But when he opened his eyes, he was still in the dark void. It hadn't worked. But for a brief second there, he actually felt he was in Rockbell on a hilltop overlooking the valley. And then all of a sudden he felt something rip him away like someone had pulled him back.

Suddenly he heard a soft beating in the void. And the more he focused on the sound the more he could hear it. Until that was all he could hear. It echoed in his ears like a constant beating drum in rhythm fashion. Then he realized it was his heart. He felt his chest and he could feel it beating inside his chest.

If he could feel that, then it proved that he was still alive!

He was suddenly filled with a beacon of hope.

He sat cross-legged and started to think.

He put a closed fist underneath his chin and closed his eyes and began to contemplate his situation, as he often did when he had the time. And in knowing where he was, he certainly had the time.

He wasn't reckless or panicky like his brother. He went through all the pros and cons and decided on a logical course of action before making a move.

But as soon as his hand touched his chin, he pulled it away confused. He felt his chin and noticed it didn't feel right. This wasn't what his chin normally felt like.

He quickly felt the rest of his body including his hair. What happened to his hair? He normally had soft, fine hair. And where was his ponytail? His hair felt hard and there were long stigmatizations of hair protruding outward similar to the metal stems of an umbrella. It felt like someone had added too much moose and molded clumps of hair together like blades of a knife. They were very sharp.

Even though he had only recently been restored to his human body having his soul transmuted to a suit of armor for five years, he knew for a fact that this was not his own body. Did someone transmute his soul into someone else's body? _Oh no, not again!_ He thought.

"This is not my body. What happened to my body?" he finally shouted out, getting to his feet, shocked.

An angelic white light suddenly appeared ten meters away from him and it instantly caught his attention. It was a hazy light, almost like a beacon in a fog. But now he was finally able to see what he looked like. He was near naked like he knew he was, but this was not his body. No wonder he didn't feel a wound in his stomach. He also noticed his bicep muscles and saw that were thin and reedy, as if they were malnourished. His own arms were chucker, not to say more muscular, though he hated to admit it.

So who's body was it and why did he have it?

There was something familiar about it, however. But he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Confused, Alphonse?" a familiar voice rang out from the glowing haze. "Then allow me to enlighten you."

The haze brightened and a form began to develop from its now blinding glow.

Al shielded his eyes with an arm from the penetrating light, but curiously found himself looking back into it as if desperately wanting to know what it was. And like an angel from the heavens, a form appeared, its shape basked in a white light coming from behind it. Al was in awe at the sight he was beholding. And for a moment, he really did believe that he was dead, and he was seeing an angel come to take him up to heaven?

The entire place brightened with a soft, hazy glow. However there was nothing to see. Everything was empty. Void of life.

But then he received the shock of his life. No, it wasn't an angel, he was looking at… himself?

"What the-"

"Hello Al. Yes, I'm using your body. You did lose it in a wager to me, did you not?"

"Guilt!" he sneered. "Give me back my body! And who's body is this you've given me?" Making a gesture to the one he had.

"If you're so desperate in your desire to know then be my guest. Look at the ground." Guilt said. "But he warned, you might be in for a rude awakening. When you look, you'll see my true form."

Al looked at the ground, at the black, glass-like surface and received a frightening shock. He felt his face and couldn't believe what he saw. He was looking upon the face of the Homunculus known as Envy.

"But you're supposed to be dead," Al said, looking up at him in disbelief. "My brother killed you!"

"Death is merely an illusion," Envy said, in Al's body. "And if you know its secret, can be exploited. To cheat death is the ultimate success for a Homunculus. When I impaled your brother in that citadel that time, a part of me forever became a part of him. I knew the end was coming, so I took precautions to ensure my survival. Now that I have you body my survival is assured and I will finally achieve my one true goal: to walk among humanity as one of them. As was my original goal."

"I'll stop you," Al said.

Envy chuckled softly. "I'm afraid not," he said. "You unfortunately will be a little preoccupied." And Envy snapped his fingers and a spark ignited from his middle finger and thumb. "You see, I know your deepest fear and as long as I have your soul trapped here, you will forever be at my mercy." He smiled. "You hate fire, don't you Al? It terrifies you down to your very soul. When you were a babe you accidentally knocked over a candle in your family home and set the living room ablaze. Your mother had just stepped out to retrieve some water from the outside well and your brother was out playing with his friends. You were all alone as the fire spread. And you were trapped in your baby crib. You nearly died of smoke inhalation, and yourfeet were burned."

Al gulped nervously. "That was a long time ago," he said. "I've learned to control that fear."

"Have you now?" Envy said. "Then let's see just how much you've controlled it."

Envy snapped his fingers again and a ring of fire erupted around Al, seven feet in diameter and a meter in height. Al threw his arms to his face to avoid getting burned, but it was more of an automatic reaction than one of fear. He felt the heat searing his near naked body and soon sweat started to egress from his pores. The fire was so hot that it was like standing in the middle of a burning furnace. He cried out in god-awful pain as the flames licked and ravished his body. It was like being burned at a stake.

Envy laughed. "Remember the pain, Al," he said, "'cause you'll gonna be feeling it for a very long time."

_I have no intention of returning your soul back to your brother!_

_To be continued... **  
**_


	10. Chapter 10

Blood is thicker than water, but revenge can last a lifetime. And for Envy, the anger he felt towards Ed and Al went hand in hand with his no mercy policy. He had been mad for as long as he could remember and right now, Al was the target for his anger and aggression. He was after all family, and family deserved special treatment. Envy was going to take back what he had given to the Elric brother and that was existence. Without his unintentional interference, Al's soul would still be blood sealed to that armor.

"Don't fight it, Al, let me hear you scream," Envy said to him, smiling, as Al fought off the ring of fire, trying to avoid the flames from burning his skin. Yet it was so hot, Al looked as red as a lobster in a pot of boiling water. And his skin was drenched with sweat. The moisture evaporating from his skin was enough to cause excruciating pain. To Al, it felt like his skin was being ripped off the muscles.

Al cried out in agonizing pain! But to Envy, all this fit in with his sick sense of amusement. And he laughed.

"I'll take what's mine now, Alphonse," Envy said, and Al screamed, "NOOO!"

Ed blocked his opponent's attack. He was unsure whether Al's samurai sword would stand up against the suit of armor's massive iron arms, but it did and it surprised even him.

He sliced through the air in countenance and did some damage to the chastise, but it wasn't enough to stop it from coming. Al's body raised its massive arms and brought them down upon him. Ed blocked with the sword. But the pressure mounted as Al's body pressed the attack.

Ed's knees started to buckle, but he would not relent and used all his strength to defend. He shouted "Ahhh!" as he attacked, as if doing so would give him added strength. But apparently it did, and he pushed against Al's down push and jumped away as soon as it was convenient to do so, and out of striking distance.

Ed breathed heavy. But the suit of armor seemed unaffected. Of course not, it wasn't alive. And it would fight until the bitter end. It didn't feel exhaustion and had no reservations about murder. It was under the influence of Guilt. Who curiously wasn't around to see his puppet dance to his beat. Was Ed too boring for Guilt to stick around? Was the fight too slow for him? Well, he'd have to rectify that.

Winry watched as Al's temperature rose and his skin turned beet red. He then began to thrash around similar to how Ed had reacted whenever he experienced a waking hallucination. Was Al having one? What was happening in there? She had a very bad feeling that something was not right.

She didn't know. But she had to stop him somehow or he'll twist Ed's head off.

She thought for a moment and had an idea. Al had told her not to remove his hands from Ed's head, but if she didn't Ed was in danger of never walking up at all if Al snapped his neck. So she quickly unwrapped the tape and pulled his hands away from Ed.

Thus the connection was broken; he settled down.

Ed gripped the sword with both hands tightly and shouted again to add to his strength, and sliced through the air at the suit of armor. But suddenly it winked out of existence as if it hadn't been there at all, like a phantasm without form or substance, and Ed spun in a 360 degree circle and fell to the ground. When his head cleared from the dizziness he looked up and said confused, "What the- Where'd he go?"

Suddenly he winked out, too!

And everything went black.

Winry lay Al's back up against a wall and then went to Ed to see if he was alright. She leaned into his face and placed an ear to his mouth, and breathed a sigh of relief. His breathing was normal. And there didn't seem to be any damage. Suddenly he opened his eyes and looked at her. And she was ecstatic to see him conscious. "Winry? What in the world happened? I was just fighting…" Then quickly asked, "Where's Al?"

"He's okay, just resting," she said. "I had to remove the tape from around his hands and your head because I feared he was going to hurt you, he was thrashing around a lot," she said. "If I didn't, he couldn't killed you."

"Oh," Ed said. Then said, "What tape?" He tried to get up, but something restrained him to the bed. It was some sort of invisible force field or something to that effect. "Why can't I move?" he said.

"Al placed a binding spell on you so you'd stop thrashing around during your waking hallucinations." Al moaned, and then slowly opened his eyes. She turned and went to him, leaving Ed. "Are you alright, Al? You had me worried there for a moment."

He looked up at Winry who was standing before him as he sat on the floor next to Ed's bed. "What happened? I don't remember a thing." He said.

"Al, release me from the binding spell, will ya? I have an inch and I wanna scratch it." He said smiling, and was relieved that he was okay.

Al rubbed his eyes and then slowly got to his feet, his muscles felt sore. He then went to the front of the bed and looked down at Ed. Rubbing his hands together he then placed them over Ed's body, then stopped.

"Well Al? Get to it!" his brother demanded.

Al smirked maliciously, and said, "You look so peaceful there, dear brother. I'm not sure I wanna release you. As long as you're subjected to that binding spell, you won't be any trouble." He stretched his arms above his head and flexed his arm muscles in front. "It feels so liberating to have a real body again."

Ed's mouth went agape. "Guilt? NO!" he said.

"Surprised, Ed? Well, you shouldn't be. Thanks to you, I got what I wanted."

"But you were after my body? Not Al."

"And whatever gave you that impression? As I already told Al, I needed a whole, unaltered body free of automail to accomplish my goal of becoming human, and now I have one."

And with a sudden body morph, Al became Envy-dressed in his usual skimpy attire.

Ed's eyes widened in total shock. "Ta-da!" Envy said grinning big.

"B-but you're dead!" he said. "How…"

And Envy told him what he had told Al about how he was giving new life inside Ed's mind.

"Al specifically said not to remove his hands from your head or the connection would be broken, and he was correct. Little did he know before he left on his adventure into your mind that his life would be sacrificed for yours. He went in to save you and ended him being the instrument to his own destruction."

"NO!" Ed cried out, and struggled against Al's binding spell. But it was to no avail. "This can't be happening! Not now, not when we've come so far. My brother just got his body back after five years. It's not fair, you can't just take it away from him. It's not yours! Give it back. I'll kill you!"

Envy chuckled. "The binding spell has you restrained, your threats are meaningless." He then turned to Winry, who was in silent shock through all of this. "Thank you, my dear. You're as much to blame for what has transpired. By removing Al's hands from Ed's head, you finally allowed me to take complete control of Al's body. Though I wouldn't found a way eventually."

"What do I do, Ed?" she said, confused.

"Don't let him leave the house, stop'em Winry!" Ed told her.

Winry reached behind her and grabbed a wrench from a work bench and clutched it to her chest. She had no idea what she intended to do with it, but just having it with her brought some solace. It was like a safety blanket. When she had a tool in her hand she believed she could do anything. Even become uber-human.

"And what do you intend to do with that, Winry?" Envy asked.

"Normally I fix things with it, but in your case it has one more application," she said, and before he knew what hit him, she struck him across the side of the face with the wrench.

He dropped to his knees and smothered his face in his hands. He muffled an angry shout through them and when he removed them from his face, he saw blood. The left side of his head throbbed with pain. Blood streamed down from his eyebrow. "A-ow!" he said, gritting his teeth, still reeling from the pain. He touched a hand to the spot she hit him and it was sensitive to touch. He felt a bruise forming. "That wasn't very nice," he said. "I'm gonna make you suffer for that, bitch!"

He suddenly swung a hand at her and slapped the wrench out of her hand. Then got to his feet and grabbed her shoulders. "I have no qualms about killing a woman!"

"Not this woman," she said, and kneed him in the crotch.

Envy folded over in pain and backed away a few steps, to avoid getting kneed a second time.

"Way to go, Winry," Ed said, excited that she was winning. "Now, finish him off before he can recover."

"You forget, I'm no ordinal human. I'm a Homunculus, an inhuman being. Despite inhabiting a body that is flesh and blood, I still have the same powers I always did. And now I'm angry!"

Envy stood erect fully recovered and extended his right arm as if it where rubber. His skin stretched, and he clasped his fingers around Winry's throat. And started to squeeze. Winry tried to pull his hand away from her throat, but he had the grip of steel and she wasn't strong enough.

Ed screamed, "NOOO!"

And Winry's head limped to the side, her neck broken.

"NOOO!" he screamed again!

Envy released her and she collapsed to the floor, like a pile of jelly.

He smiled thin and then turned to Ed, who was struggling against Al's binding spell, angry and sadful tears rolling down his cheeks. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU, ENVY!" he yelled enraged.

"Another empty threat," he said. "I'm surprised at you, Ed, I thought you wouldn't learned they don't play with me. Now that she's outta the way, I can focus solely on you, and seeing as you're incapacitated, I'm pretty sure you won't put up too much of a fight. Time to end your troublesome existence for good!"

Ed gritted his teeth, and growled angry. Unable to move.

Envy approached him, ready to commit murder. "Come, come now, it'll all be over very quickly," he said. And his left arm morphed into a long, slender, metallic blade.

Envy raised the blade into the air above Ed's chest, with the blade point pointing down.

"I've been waiting for this moment for the longest time, Ed. Now it's your turn to die! Say hello to your Mother, she's waiting for you."

And Envy plunged the blade into Ed's chest, through his heart.

Ed heaved out one last breath.

And everything went black.

Elsewhere, Al screamed in horrid agony as his body burned in the ring of fire, and he became engulfed in flames!

_To be continued... **  
**_


	11. Chapter 11

True reality is never what you think it is. Sometimes one reality is something completely different than what you previously perceived it to be. But often, the only reality that matters is the one you're living in right now. Nothing else matters. Nothing else exists but your reality. But were the boys in there true reality?

This question ran through Ed's and Al's minds consecutively, and each were attempting to place their own reality inside a single realm where things meant the most sense to them. But in this dark filled void, nothing made sense. Their minds were disembodied and their consciousness were meshed inside one mind. Ed's mind. Envy had beaten them and they were now trapped in a place where existence was questionable and life was an unending, irrefutable uncertainty. However, for the Elric brothers, this correlation of their minds gave them an unexpected advantage. They now had the power of one mind instead of two.

"Al?"

"Ed?"

"Where are we?"

"I don't know."

"How do we get out of here?"

"I don't know."

"This place frightens me."

"It frightens me, too."

"I want to go home."

"We can go anywhere you like, this is my mind."

"I know the perfect place, a place we used to play as kids."

"Let's concentrate together."

The sound of rushing water awoke them. They felt groggy, as if they had been subjected to a provoked and prolonged deep sleep. They lay on a rocky shore on the edge of a babbling brook surrounded by forest. It was a peaceful place, and where they used to catch bull frogs when they were kids. They had successfully managed to navigate through Ed's mind without Envy's interference.

But there was a question on each of their minds, the same in fact: Why weren't they dead? Each had died at the hands of Envy in a different way inside Ed's mind. Al by fire and Ed by way of a waking hallucination conjured by Envy. They discussed their experiences and came the same conclusion, Envy had tricked them.

"Then where is he, brother?" Al wondered.

Ed shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows in an I-don't-know manner. "He's probably hiding deep in the recesses of my mind somewhere," he said. "But it's strange, I can't feel his presence. Before I could, but now… nothing."

"That's because the majority of his consciousness has left your mind and has traveled to someone else," Maes Hughes said, sitting on large, round stone off-set by the starting of grassy brush lining the stony shore. "While you to were distracted by Envy's tricks, he managed to elude you and shift the bulk of his essence to another host."

Ed was agape in shock. "What new host?" he said quickly. "Who is it?"

"I think you know," Hughes said. "To Envy, she was the next logical choice, seeing how Al dispelled you with an Alchemy binding spell rending you inoperable on that bed, and Al with his hands taped to your head, unable to move, to keep your still, preventing your head from thrashing around during one of your waking hallucinations, to evoke the Mind Meld technique to enter your mind. At some point, Winry touched one of you and Envy used that to channel into her body."

"You mean Envy is running around in the real world in Winry's body?" Ed said, his mind raced with so many twisted and sick things that Envy could do while in Winry's body. "We've gotta go and stop him!" He turned to Al and grabbed his shoulders in a desperate plea. Al jerked startled. "Al, we must leave my mind, and back go to the real world. Reverse the Mind Meld technique and wake us!"

Al nodded. "Okay," he said, never denying a desperate plea of this nature. Besides, even though Ed had never said it, Al knew Ed cared a lot more for Winry then he lead on. There was a strong connection between them that fell into a higher level of love. "We'll save Winry."

"Al, thanks for coming to help me," Ed said finally, and smiled at his brother.

"I'm your brother, Ed, that's what brother's do, they help each other in a crises," Al said. "You never relented to get my body back and I felt it was time to pay-it-forward. Call it even?" Al smiled, smirked.

"Deal," Ed said, and returned the smile. "Now let's go rescue Winry."

"Good luck, boys," Maes Hughes said. "It was nice seeing you again."

"Likewise," Ed said.

"Thanks for all your help, Brigadier General Hughes," Al said.

Hughes snorted a laugh. "My friend's call me, Hughes," he said, and then like a ghostly specter he disappeared before their very eyes, totally vanished.

However, the boys then heard his disembodied voice say, "Remember boys, reality is owned by the perceiver, make sure you see the light through the darkness."

They weren't too sure what Hughes meant by that, but they made a metal note.

Ed stood close to his brother and Al recited the Ishbalan chant he spoke to enter Ed's mind, and then, it was then that-

-they were transported and suddenly found themselves in the middle of an open-roof coliseum size arena in the middle of the afternoon under a hot blistering sun. The coliseum's construction was made of stone and there were seating room for thousands of people.

It reminded Ed of what one of his history teacher's had told him of the history of Ancient Rome and the large coliseum that stood to the testament of timein Italy, Rome. It was where the Romans threw slaves to die for sport against a bunch of hungry, vicious lions, or to be killed by Gladiators.

But why were they here?

He looked at Al. "Al, where the hell did you take us?" he said. "I thought you were taking us back to the real world."

"This is the real world, my friends," a familiar voice said to them. "I brought you here 'cause I haven't having finished havingfun with you yet."

Ed and Al immediately looked in the direction of the voice and saw Envy standing on the top of a stone column in the middle of the arena along with many.

"Reality is what you make of it, isn't that right, Edward?" Envy said.

"But how can you be here?" Ed wondered. "Hughes told us you transferred your consciousness to Winry."

"You'll never be rid of me, Ed," Envy said, winking at him. "I told you before, a part of me will forever be a part of you, and that will never change. What you see is merely an image of the last reminiscence of the Homunculi known to you as Envy."

"So you're not the real Envy, but a manifestation of him?" Al said.

"Correct," he said. "I am the part of Envy that will forever haunt you, Ed. You're stay a prisoner in your mind for as long as I wish. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it! I'll never allow you to return to your former lives. You're mine forever!"

And Envy laughed manically.

_To be continued... **  
**_


	12. Chapter 12

Standing on the column in the middle of the coliseum arena, Envy chuckled, and his expression was that of an amused trickster. But Ed and Al were far from sharing his sentiment of the situation. In fact, Envy, as he was still closely connected to Ed's mind, could feel emotions of hate from each of them. And this gave him a further sense of joy. The emotional pain gave him pleasure.

"You're mine forever," he said. "And we're gonna have alotta fun together, I promise that. The world's the limit and I'm feeling playful."

Ed suddenly snorted a smirk.

"What justifies that smugness?" Envy said.

Ed remembered he had said that once before. "That you'll going to be easy to defeat," he said.

"That's right," Al agreed. "With the majority of Envy - you - split from your essence and trapped inside Ed's mind, your presence here is considerably weaker."

"I assure you, you're gravely mistaken," Envy said confidently. "I'm just as strong as I was before and I can destroy you with a single whim."

"Then do it," Ed said sly, crossing his arms across his chest, arrogantly.

Al looked at Ed with a confused look. "Ed, what are you doing?" he softly said.

"Trust me, Al, he's not as dominating as he wants us to think, I can feel it," Ed said quietly. "The majority of his strength has been stripped away from him."

"Don't think I can't hear ya whispering over there, 'cause I have ears like a hawk." Envy said. "My other half is in the real world, but I'm still here and I'm as strong as ever, and that's all that matters. You're trapped in here with me for all eternity or until your body dies from malnutrition, whichever comes first, and knowing the human body, the latter is the safer and enviable bet!"

"I don't think you have any power, Envy, you never did," Ed then said. Envy looked at him confused. "A strong mind makes its own reality, and after everything that's happened, all that's transpired in my mind, I think I've finally figured you out."

"And what exactly have you figure out about me, Edward Elric?" Envy baited.

"That you're nothing without the emotions that drove me into the depths of despair for what I did to Al and for failing to bring our mom back from the dead," he admitted. "Fear is the ultimate enemy and I don't fear you anymore."

"But everyone fears something, and if you're not afraid of me anymore, then perhaps we need to take this little mindbender in another direction," Envy said. And he extended his hand out in front of him and cupped his hand sideways. Suddenly a sword manifested and he gripped it. "I still know your greatest fear, Ed, and your fear is the act of murder." He chuckled sinister. "You hate to kill; you cried when you had to kill the Homunculi known as Guilt."

"I cried 'cause there had to be another way other than to kill him," Ed deemed.

"Admit it, you don't miss your limbs at all, you enjoy transmuting your automail; it's your safety blanket. If you didn't have it, you'd feel naked. And you don't regret what you did to your brother. You were selfish, you didn't care what happened as long as your got your mother back. It was only after things went wrong that you learned it's not nice to play with mother nature."

Al looked at Ed and noticed an angry sneer on his brother's face. "You're right, Envy, I was selfish, and I didn't think about the consequences of my actions, but over the years I've matured and I've learned just how precious and fragile life is, and I've also learned that Alchemy is a responsibility and not a right," Ed said. "It's people like you who abuse that special gift given to humanity and it's people like us, Al and I, who need to set things right."

"What are you now, vigilantes?" Envy laughed out loud.

"No, just survivors of cause," Ed said. "And we're going to kill you."

Ed clapped his hands together and a three foot metallic blade transmuted from his automail right arm. And in Al's right hand emerged his father's samurai sword, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. He had willed it into existence with a thought. As this was Ed's mind, the standard premise of anything-goes applied.

"Two against one isn't fair, but I know a way to even the odds," Envy said, and suddenly he traded his consciousness with Al and exchanged their bodies, so Al's consciousness was in his and vise versa. He had tried this once before and took over Ed's mind and body to attack Al, but now this time things would be a lot different as Ed would fight his brother not knowing it was really Al.

Edward Elric was right. With the other half of his consciousness in the real world in the body of that girl, he wasn't as strong as he once was, however, he still had a few tricks up his sleeve to convince them otherwise.

And so, so Ed would believe in his deception, he would have to use the last of his manipulative power to convince Ed of the trick. Ed's mental facilities were much stronger now than in the beginning of his venture, but he was still weak, and he knew just where to breakdown his mental barriers to crush his spirit. Al could say whatever he wanted, but Ed would be deaf to his pleas.

"Time to die now, Al, for real," he muttered under his breath.

But all of sudden, Ed clapped his hands together and transmuted his arm into a giant metal clamp. He then turned quickly and grabbed Al's body around the waist tightly before Envy could react. Envy let out a cry of "Ah!" as the clamp squeezed around his ribs. He then grabbed onto either side of the clamp in an attempt to free himself, but to no avail. He looked at Ed with an expression of utter astonishment and surprise.

"Did you really think you'd trick me twice, Envy?" Ed said. "The instant you exchanged consciousness's with my brother I was aware of the deception. This is my world remember and I'm taking it back!"

Envy growled angry. But then he chuckled as if he found the situation funny.

"Why are you laughing?" Ed asked.

"Because you still don't have a clue, you'll never be rid of me, and this world is mine!" Envy said.

Envy instantly exchanged bodies again. Now Envy was back in his own body and not trapped by Ed's metal clamp. Al's consciousness went back to his body and he let out cry of pain as he felt the clamp squeezing like vice grips around his ribs.

Ed went agape and immediately released the clamp from around Al's waist. Al felt his ribs and grunted in the pain. "Sorry Al," Ed said afterwards. Al nodded, accepting his brother's apology. Though it wasn't his fault.

Temporarily distracted, Envy foresaw an opportunity and attacked Ed. And before Ed could react, by transmuting his arm back to normal, Envy cut it off just above the elbow joint. The biocircuitry components delivered the illusion and sensation of pain and Ed grabbed his arm instinctively.

"Your safety blanket has been removed," Envy said chuckling. "You're defenseless and now you're mine."

He raised his sword above his head and prepared to bring down on Ed, to finally end his life, but suddenly Al rushed and intervened, putting his blade in the way, stopping Envy's attack. He shifted his weight between Envy and Ed and pushed against Envy's sword. "No attacks my brother," he said valiantly.

Ed smiled. "Thanks Al," he said.

"No problem, you're my brother, and I'll always be at your side, no matter what," Al said.

Envy and Al clashed swords, and Al managed to force Envy back. It was then that Envy jumped away from Al, putting some distance between them. "You're good with that sword," Envy said. "Daddy's little boy with daddy's little sword, how precious. But you're goin' need a lot more than that sword to beat me."

"Maybe so, but all I needed was enough time to keep you at bay so my brother could get ready," Al said.

"What?"

Envy's brows frowned bemused and suddenly a tremendous force clamped around his waist like before. He looked down and saw that it was Ed's metal clamp. He gritted his teeth in pain and tried to push the metal clamp off him, but it was futile. He looked at Al, and then turned his neck to the side to eye Ed. "But how?" he said. "I cut off your arm, there was no way you coulda used it."

"Apparently it's you who don't have a clue, Envy," Al explained. "This is Ed's mind, and anything-goes in here, even the improbabe like reattaching his arm."

"Do the honors, Al," Ed said.

"With pleasure, brother," Al said, and he gripped his sword in his right hand. And with one swift slice through the air, he cut off Envy's head.

Envy's head rolled bounced and then along the ground, but it wasn't dead.

Envy laughed. "I'm eternal, you idiot. You can't kill me. Your mind is my playground, Ed, and intend to have fun forever. So it doesn't matter what you do to me in here. You're never be rid of me."

"Then we're just going to hafta to something unconventional, aren't we?" Ed said, and Al nodded.

Ed released Envy's body from the metal clamp, and transmuted his arm back to it's normal state. Then he clapped his hands again and touched the ground. And out from the ground from underneath Envy's body emerged a iron bar cage and it trapped Envy's body inside. Ed went over and picked up Envy's head by the hair and tossed it in the open top and then sealed it with a solid piece of metal.

Envy picked up his head and put it back on his shoulders, it fused back to his body. He grabbed the iron bars and said, "You're not serious, are you? Do you really think this pathetic cage will hold me?"

"I know it will," Ed said. And Al agreed. "It's time to send you back to where you came from." And the cage began to sink back into the ground like it was trapped by quick sand, symbolically sinking back into Ed's conscious mind.

Envy said, "This isn't over, Ed, I'll be back!"

Ed shook his head. "Not if I have anything to say about it," he said. The cage completely sunk into the ground. "Time to save Winry, Al," he then said.

Al nodded, and the spoke the chant, to return them to the real world and out of Ed's mind.

The coliseum faded and everything went black.

_To be continued...  
_


	13. Chapter 13

Ed opened his eyes and looked around in a daze, but he couldn't move his head. The only thing he could do was push his eyes from side to side. He was spellbound to the bed by one of Al's Alchemy spells. The Mind Meld Technique.

He felt Al's hands closely pressed against the sides of his head and tape wrapped around them. They were there to secure Al's hands for the Mind Meld transference, or that's what Winry had told him when he had awoken during his waking hallucination for which Envy had concocted, made him believe was real. But for which it wasn't. It was another way for Envy to test his mental defenses and when he let his guard down, Envy attacked. . .

"Al, wake up," he called out to his brother. "Wake up, Al."

Al moaned out a tired groin and then opened his eyes in a daze, as if he had just awoken from a long sleep. Sharp needles of light penetrated his pupils like the morning sunshine through light curtains. He felt like he wanted to turn over, throw the sheets over his head and go back to sleep. But then he suddenly remembered he hadn't been asleep, but instead trapped inside Ed's mind.

The Mind Meld technique that Scar and an Ishbalan doctor taught him worked.

His hands were taped to Ed's head wrapped with black electrical tape. Winry had done that to hold Ed's head still so he could perform the Mind Meld technique, during one of Ed's violent waking hallucinations. Al later learned Envy was the cause of those attacks and it was a trick to lure him into Ed's mind in an attempt to immigrate and mind-swoop with Al's body. But it hadn't worked. Envy failed. But now, with the information given to them by Maes Hughes, who appeared as part of Ed's subconscious mind, or at least that's what he figured he represented, they know Envy's consciousness made its way into Winry's body.

"AL, wake up!" Ed now shouted loud, and Al jumped, startled.

"Ed, don't shout, I'm awake!" he said back, his voice hinting irate.

"Dispel this Mind Meld spell so we can go find Winry," Ed insisted with grave earnest. "There's no telling what that lunatic Envy has done to her."

"How did you know about that Alchemic spell, I never told you," Al wondered. Wondering if this was all a trick and Ed was playing dumb only for Envy to be still in control of him. "You were so disorientated with your waking hallucinations that there's no way you could know I bound you to the bed."

"Winry told me in a dream," he said. "No, I guess you could call it a waking hallucination before Envy killed her and then me."

"What?" Al said confused.

And he told Al about his waking hallucination where Winry had released him and how Envy possessed Al's body and killed him, by sticking a knife in his heart. "And that was when I found myself in that empty, dark void," Ed said.

"After I burned to death in Envy's ring of fire, I too found myself there," Al said. "The power of the mind is truly awesome, brother. Envy had me believing I was going up in flames. The pain was so excruciating that I couldn't resist but scream out in pain and anguish. It felt like my flesh was pealing from my body."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Al," Ed said sympathetic. "It's almost over now, Al," he said. "Release me and we'll go find Winry and finally put an end to all this. Envy will pay for what he's done."

"How do I know it's really you? I mean, you could be Envy."

Ed's was starting to get a little upset and his patience was running thin. He was thinking of all the terrible things Envy could be doing to Winry right now and he wanted to save her from that hell.

"Believe me, Al, I'm 100, truly your brother; who else could I be?" Ed said.

"That's not very convincing," Al said suspiciously. "Prove it!"

"How the hell can I prove it when I'm bound to this stupid bed!" Ed said angry.

"If you're indeed my brother, Ed, then you'd know how father defeated the real Envy. What happened on that fateful day?"

Ed had to think back for a moment. The imagery of what happened, or what he witnessed, all that he saw, was, to say the least, horrific and horrifying. But he wasn't witness to all of it. Only father was the last one to see Envy alive. "He slipped through the gate with father, but I don't know where he ended up."

"How was I rescued?"

"I went into the gate and brought you out," Ed said. "If I hadn't done so, your body would've been devoured by the spirits and demons inside. I was surprised your body even survived at all after everything that happened during our travels. There was a time there, that, I thought you'd never get your body back. Who else would know that?"

"Envy would, he knows everything you know," Al said.

"If that's so, then how am I to prove congruently that I'm your brother?"

Al sighed. "I suppose you can't," he admitted.

"Then release me, we have to go find Winry," Ed urged. "Winry!" he called out to her, but she didn't answer. He called out to her again, but still no answer. "Where is she? She should be here."

"Maybe she went out shopping for tools. You know how she is when there's a sale, and this morning there's supposed to be a merchant hardware sale in town."

"What time is it?" Ed asked.

"I think it's morning, we've been at this all night, nearly eight hours. Envy took us to hell and back again during the night. I'd call that a nightmare."

"I'm exhausted, but we've gotta find her," Ed insisted. "Now release this damn spell of yours so we can go look for her!"

Then a thought struck Al. "Oh-no," he muttered loudly.

"What Oh-no," Ed repeated.

"If Winry's gone, then there's no one to release my hands from your head. And if I can't free my hands, then I can't recant the Mind Meld spell."

A couple of nasty words bellowed through Ed's mind. "You can't be serious," he said. "You idiot!"

"Don't get angry with me, it's not my fault," Al said.

"Then who's fault is it, certainly not mine! And who gave you permission to tape your hands to my head anyway! This tape better not rip out any of my hair."

"Don't be so chauvinistic, Ed, you need a haircut anyway," Al chuckled.

"This is no time to be making jokes, Al," Ed said angry.

"You sound like a girl," Al then said.

Ed growled at him like a disgruntled she-devil. "I am not a girl," he said, struggling against the power of the Alchemic spell, but to no avail.

"Settle down, brother, or you'll give yourself an aneurism from all that thrashing around."

Ed suddenly stopped feeling the effects of an elevated blood rush. He felt woozy and his vision became a little blurry. "Okay, I'm not doing that again," he said, settling down, trying to sound calm. "Just release me, okay?"

"If I could, I wouldn't hesitate, but how?"

"Use your teeth to rip through the tape; anything."

Al tried it, but all he got was a sore jaw. The electrical tape was just too tough and rubbery to be pulled apart by the gnashing of his teeth upon it. "It's no good, brother, and now my jaw hurts," Al said. "Have any other ideas?"

"If only you had a metal leg like mine, you could clap your feet together and transmute it into a sharp blade or a pair of scissors to cut through the tape."

"That's not funny, brother," Al said frowning.

"Sorry, didn't think about it until after I said it," Ed said. "Do you see anything sharp nearby you could use to cut the tape?"

Al looked around. Winry's work bench was five meters away from them with a pair of scissors hanging in plain sight on a peg board, but nothing he could reach. "And how would you suggest I use it if there was anything nearby which there isn't? My hands are taped to your head."

"Use your imagination," Ed said snorting. "Use your feet."

"I'm a human, not a monkey," Al replied.

"If I could use Alchemy, I could perform the levitation technique and get those scissors from Winry's work bench," he said, seeing them out of the corner of his eye, "but I'd need my hands to do it."

Al looked at him surprised. "The levitation technique?" he said. "You never said you could do that. It's a well known, but forbidden technique. There is no true exchange for its use."

"Everything has an exchange, Al. It doesn't use a conventional transmutation exchange like Alchemy does changing base materials into something else, however. You know how it works, you've read the literature on it."

"But you never told me you could do it."

"I'll show it to you some time, but now we have a more pressing matter to deal with. But why am I telling you this, you don't even believe I'm your brother."

Al leaned over his brother and gave him a big grin. "I have no doubt in my mind that you're my brother, Ed," he said with a smile. "When our minds melded we touched a chord and we shared something very special. With my hands touching your head, I can feel that same predominance inside you. Alchemy is not only the ability to turn base metals or transmute objects and minerals into other things, it also has another exceptional property many people never discover or understand. In touching an object or another person there comes a unique synchronicity, a bonding, a moment in time, where you and it are fused together as one. Interrelationship is what true Alchemy is all about."

"You've been reading too many sci-fi comics, Al, but thanks." Ed said smiling. "Listen up, I may have an idea in how to free us."

And Ed told him.

Meanwhile, someone overheard their plans.

_To be continued..._


	14. Chapter 14

"You're full of surprises, brother!" Al said astounded, after he heard Ed's plan. "You mean to say that Winry doesn't know you did that to your arm?"

"Nope," Ed said back. "And if she did, I bet she'd be upset. I did it in the _other world_ when I studied to be a mechanist apprentice. The geo-magnetic differential wasn't like our world so I couldn't perform Alchemy. I tinkered with my arm and taught it a new trick. Wanna see what it can do?"

And Al nodded eagerly.

Ed turned his head and looked towards Winry's work bench.

Neuron-bio-electric circuitry installed in his body to act like nerve connectors that stimulated his automail arm controlled by the left hemisphere of his brain that manipulated cognitive thought opened and closed the cold appendence. Ed rotated his wrist and with a thought, his hand popped out of its arm socket. Electronically remote-controlled by Ed's thoughts, it stood up on his fingers and self-sufficiently jumped off the bed, free of its confines.

Al watched Ed's hand move with fluent motion, using its fingers like legs, much like spider did as it crawled along the floor towards Winry's work bench. Then it leapt onto the wooden bench. Then it leapt again and grabbed hold of the scissors that were hanging from a metal clamp on the peg board. It dropped onto the work bench with the scissors in hand. It turned, and holding the scissors with one finger by a loop, it jumped down to the floor and dragged the scissors to the boys. It then waited for further instructions from Ed.

Al's mouth was agape with astonishment. "That is amazing!" he said.

Ed breathed out a sigh of relief, seeing that it worked with 100 success, and he was pleased with it. "I know," Ed smiled.

"But how is it moving around on its own like that?" Al wondered.

"I'm using techno-telepathy," Ed said. And Al looked at him with a what-is-that? expression. "It's only a working title, but I think it's catchy. Much like the brain controls the body, my mind is controlling my hand via remote access. In simpler terms, my mind is a remote control and my hand is the receiver."

Just by thinking about it, Ed relayed a message to his hand and told it jump onto the bed and crawl into his chest. Which it did. Then it very carefully crawled onto Ed's face dragging the scissors behind it. But it accidentally let go of the scissors and it fell down behind Ed's shoulders. "Damn!" Ed cursed, and told his hand to retrieve them. It did and brought them up again and crawled onto his shoulder. His hand moving across his shoulder felt like a spider with its legs walking about, but thankfully it wasn't. Ed didn't necessarily have a fear of spiders, but he didn't like them either.

Ed's hand leapt onto his head and was now facing Al. "Now what?" Al said.

Ed hadn't thought that far ahead. His purpose was to get something for Al to cut the tape with. How he was going to use them was food-for-thought. He thought for a moment and then said, "Grab them with your teeth."

Al maneuvered his head to grip them with his teeth, the hand letting go. "Now what do I do?" he said through clenched teeth.

"Try to cut the tape with the sharp edges," Ed said. "If you can manage to make a hole and then rip the tape, you can free one hand and cut the other free."

Al nodded. It seemed simple enough. And hopefully it worked because his hands were starting to feel numb and he was getting a sore pain in his back from staying in the same position for so long.

He brought the scissors to bare on his right hand and he moved the sharp edges up and down much like a saw across the back of his hand hoping to cut the tape. But after several unsuccessful tries he lifted his head back up and muttered, "It's no good. I can't get enough pressure to cut the tape. This is really strong tape."

Then he moved his jaw slightly because he had a cramp and accidentally dropped the scissors on the bed between him and Ed. They slipped behind Ed's head. "Damn!" Al echoed his brother's sentiments of earlier. "Sorry Ed, but I dropped them." Al breathed out frustrated. "It's no use, we need to figure some other way."

What other way wasa there? was Ed's first thought. He thought ordering his detached hand to retrieve the scissors from Winry's work bench was a brilliant idea, however, he failed to realize getting them was the easy part. Using them was something else entirely. But there had to be a way to cut the tape. There had to be!

Then he had an idea. "Mind Meld with me again, Al, I'm going to have to show you something, and it might be the only way for us to free ourselves." Ed said.

Then Al had a thought. "I've got an idea, brother," Al voiced out. "Why don't you use the levitation technique on your hand to pick up the scissors and use them to cut the tape?" Al said.

That was precisely what he had in mind, but with a slight alteration. "I won't be able to see what I'm doing as I cut the tape, so we have to switch bodies."

"Switch bodies?" Al didn't like the sound of that. "I don't know," he said.

"What's the problem? We'll switch right back."

"It's dangerous. The Mind Meld technique was dangerous. Switching our consciousness into each other's bodies is equally and more so dangerous. The same Ishbalan doctor who taught me the Mind Meld technique told me about the technique, but he never showed it to me. He said it was too dangerous."

"Then I'm going to have to teach you the levitation technique," Ed said. "Meld our minds together again and I'll show you-"

Al suddenly tried to pull his hands apart from Ed's head, pulling his hair. Ed's head jerked backwards during the attempt.

Ed cringed and his face winkled up in pain as the pulling felt like his hair was being torn out from their roots. "OW! STOP IT AL!" he cried out. And Al immediately stopped. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"I had an idea and wondered if the tape would loose itself if I yanked it."

Ed curled his lip up in an angry snarl-like expression and gritted his teeth. "Well, it didn't work, did it? So you can pretty much forgot about that little idea of yours! The levitation technique is the only way."

"Wait brother, if it uses a form of Alchemy, I'd need to clap my hands or use an Alchemy circle to use it, so even if you teach it to me, how will I be able to utilize it?" Then Al had a brainstorming thought. "Wait a minute. I have an idea!"

"I hope it's better than your last one."

"Much better, brother. What if your hand carves an Alchemy circle into the floor with the scissors and then you perform the Levitation technique and use your hand with the scissors to cut the tape."

"Great idea, Al, but with one flaw. I won't be able to see my hand to draw one."

"I'll be your eyes," Al said. "Just trust my direction."

Ed nodded.

"Okay," Ed agreed, and he told his automail hand to retrieve the scissors from behind his head. He lifted his head just a little for his hand to pull them out into the open. It grabbed them and then jumped off the bed to the floor below. "Alright Al, like a seeing eye dog leading its blind master - be my eyes."

For a moment he felt like Winry's pet dog. Who was curiously missing from the scene. He had seen him before he did the Mind Melded with Ed, but now the dog was no where to be seen.

"What's the matter, Al?" Ed asked him.

"Winry's dog, he's missing too," Al said.

"We better hurry then," Ed said anxiously. The idea that Winry's dog was anyway hurt by Envy in any manner made him so mad.

Ed had known Den ever since he was a puppy. Ed even stayed with him for a week never leaving his side after he was hit by a car which cost him his leg. Lucky for Den, Winry's grandmother was an excellent automail machinist and created a new leg for him. After he got the metal appendage he played like a normal dog and you'd never knew there was anything wrong with him.

Before seeing what automail could do, Ed had only thought machine parts where for machines. But after seeing what it could do for Den, he developed a respect for Automail and what it could do for humanity and alike.

Maybe that's why deep in his heart he felt Envy was right about how his automail arm and leg made him feel. That they were his security blanket, in a way. And without them he would be naked. They had been a part of his body for so long - nearly six years now - that he didn't miss what he had lost.

In fact, they were a constant reminder of his failure attempt to use a forbidden Alchemy spell to bring back his mother from the dead and what it cost him and his brother. And he wanted to keep remembering.

"I'm ready, Al," Ed then said, and Ed readied his automail hand.

Al told him how the scissors should be positioned in his automail hand to carve an Alchemy circle in the floor and Ed mentally positioned his hand properly. Then Al carefully directed him, carefully choreographing every movement to make the Alchemy circle. Soon the circle was done, and Ed ordered his hand to drop the scissors. Then he told his hand to lay flat on the circle and through techno-telepathy, the circle beneath his hand erupted in a white glow, filling all the edges of the circle. And his hand began to levitate in the air.

But then it suddenly dropped and hit the floor with a thud. But it made a quick recovery and it got back on its fingers and adjusted its position towards the boys.

"What happened?" Al asked.

"I lost my concentration," Ed said. "I keep thinking of Winry."

"Concentrate Ed, Winry's life depends on it."

_To be continued... **  
** _


	15. Chapter 15

The mechanics of Ed's detached hand was easy enough to understand, but the techno-telepathy aspect of this symbiotic relationship between mind and metal was much more difficult than he had realized. Something was stopping his hand from obeying his orders and he couldn't figure out why.

"The amalgamation is there, but it just won't comply with my commands, Al," Ed explained, as the hand merely circled around in a 360 degree rotation without reason. It was like it was in a command runt. "I think something short-circuited during the last command I sent it. I knew something like this would happen."

"What do you mean you knew something like this would happen?" Al asked.

"The technology isn't perfected yet and there's a few bugs to iron out, but I thought I fixed the command module when this happened last time."

"Fine time for it go mental on you, brother," Al remarked. It continued to go around in a circle as if it were a dog chasing its own tail. Al wished it would stop. And suddenly it halted in its tracks and angled itself towards him.

"What just happened?" Ed asked curiously, seeing it stop.

"It just stopped," Al replied curiously.

"What did you do?" Ed asked.

"Nothing," Al said. "Strange thing however, I wished it would stop and it did."

Then Ed had a thought. "Wait a minute," he said, and tilted his head back slightly to look at Al, Al looked down at him. "Could the reason why it stopped is because you're touching me? Maybe it overloaded by the coalition of two brainwave patterns because we're connected and it just shut down?"

"I don't know," Al said. "We're two different people and it takes commands from your mental pathways, not mine. Why would it all of a sudden start to obey me?"

"Because maybe you're the dominating mind at the moment," Ed reasoned. "I'm exhausted; maybe you're not. I don't know. And as your hands are touching my temples at the moment it might be interpreting the electronic pulses coming from you as my brainwave patterns filtered through a separate conductor."

"So I can make this thing move now?"

"Apparently, and it thinks you are me at the moment."

Cool. Was the first thing Al thought and the hand reacted accordingly giving him a thumbs up. He smirked. Quickly thinking of a few commands to confirm Ed's theory, he made it play dead, sit up, and crawl on its fingers around in a circle. It obeyed each command without hesitation.

"This makes this a whole lot easier," Ed said.

"How's that?" Al wondered.

"Each of us has our own task now instead of me doing all the work. You can control the hand and I can focus on the levitation technique."

Al produced a smile. Ed was absolutely right. And that could've been the reason the hand short-circuited before. Ed was attempting to move the hand and perform the levitation technique at the same time and that had to take a toll on Ed mentally. And in his mental state of exhaustion it was no wonder that happened.

"Let's try it again," Al said.

Ed nodded. "Hopefully we'll free ourselves this time," Ed said.

Ed's automail hand began to levitate off the floor and Al commanded it to pick up the scissors.

As Al saw it, hovering in the air before him, it looked eerie to him, like some sort of a ghostly specter with a mischievous or malicious purpose. But if he wasn't witnessing it first hand, he wouldn't have believed it.

He brought the hand closer and turned it 180 degrees to face Ed, then he adjusted its angle downwards and brought it to the tape just above Ed's left ear. He inserted two fingers through the loops of the scissors and tightened its grip around the handle. He then took a quiet deep breath and commanded it to insert a blade underneath the tape and cut.

All of sudden the hand malfunctioned and it stabbed Al in the left hand, the scissors jabbing deep into his skin. He screamed out in agony as the blades of the scissors wedged themselves deep in his hand; blood filtered out of the would, through the electrical tape, down his hand and onto the bed sheets.

Al gritted his teeth and groaned heavily in pain. "Al! You alright?" Ed said.

Al let out a series of a frustrated heavy grunts to voice his pain. He sounded like he was angry. He then reached down and grabbed the scissors with his teeth and plunked them out of his hand, spitting them to the floor. Ed's automail hand dropped limp to the floor like a broken toy.

Al looked at his hand and felt a deep throbbing. "I'm fine," he finally said. "Our little experiment with the levitation technique didn't work."

"I'm sorry, Al," Ed said frowning.

"Any other bright ideas?"

"No," Ed said flatly, sad.

Thinking past the pain, Al had an idea and beamed with a smile. "But I have one, brother," he said. "Who says a person has to perform Alchemy by using their hands only? Why can't a person use their feet? A clap is a clap, right?"

Ed's eyes widened with new hope. "Hell yeah, that's right," he said. "If you can produce a clap with your feet you can break the binding spell. I never would've thought of that. Albert Einstein was right, discoveries are made by accident."

But Al was already a head of him slipping off his shoes and attempting to slip off his socks, however that seemed more challenging that he had realized.

Normally he would just pull them off, but as he didn't have use of his hands, he had to some how use his toes to peal them off. But it wasn't working like he had planned. "Damn it," he softly said, and Ed heard him.

"What's wrong?" Ed asked.

"I can't get my socks off," Al said.

Al continued in his attempt, digging his toes in between the sock and his leg to peal them off, however he was unsuccessful. With old socks he could probably do it, but he was wearing band new socks which he had bought in town last week and they were snug against his skin. Of all days to wear a new pair of socks, he thought. Then he had an idea and looked at Ed's automail hand laying limp on the floor a few feet away from him and wondered if it still functioned.

He gave it the command to stand and it jumped to action. Excellent, he thought. There must have been a short-circuit when he tried to use it to cut the tape, but what a time for it to have one! He told it to come over to him and it obeyed his command without hesitation.

"Your hand's working again, Ed," Al said, "and I'm going to use it to take my socks off."

For whatever reason Ed snorted an amused smirk, but Al didn't see what was funny. But he didn't bother to ask.

Al commanded the sock into position to take off his right sock first. It cupped its fore and index fingers inside the sock and began to peal it off. It did the same with the other. But with the left sock it pulled harder and flung backwards when it was released, rolled, and got caught up in the sock. It wiggled in the sock like a dog with its hand trapped in a cookie barrel, aimlessly moving about.

Al could help but snort a chuckle. Ed found it equally amusing.

"You know, that would make a great pet," Al said.

"My hand isn't something for your amusement, Al, and I hope your foot fungus is cleared up," Ed said, watching it struggle inside Al's sock. "Now hurry up and clap your feet together and get us free. I'm worried about Winry."

"Me too," Al said.

He brought his feet together and made the closest approximation to a clap sound he could make. Then he recited the chant and lifted the binding spell.

Ed moved his arms and then his legs. He then grinned big happy that he was finally free. He then grabbed the scissors from the floor and began to cut the tape from around his head, freeing Al's hands.

They were now free of each other.

Ed's automail hand dropped silent.

Ed scratched his head and then picked up his hand, reattaching it. He then turned to his brother and looked at Al's hand. "Let's take care of that hand, Al," he said. Al washed it and Ed applied some antiseptic ointment to the wound. Every single muscle in Al's body clenched as the pain of the cleanser in his open wound coursed through his body. It felt even more painful than being stabbed. Ed then wrapped Al's hand in gauss. "Feeling better?"

Al nodded. "Thanks brother," he said.

And Ed smiled. "I'm just glad you're okay," he said.

"Brother, who's Albert Einstein?"

"I thought you might ask that," Ed said, and he started to explain. "He was a brilliant inventor, philosopher and thinker, and he helped me convert my hand actually." Ed went on. "I confined in him in the _other world_ because he was an inventor and I needed some advise in how to build propulsion for a rocket. And he was very interested in my hand. He had conceived of a similar premise of prosthetic limbs to help people who lost an arm or a leg since they didn't have this technology. He examined my automail and using his knowledge of brain wave patterns and how they carried carrier waves much like radio signals through the human body, helped me build it. He was a very fascinating man. I wonder if he's alive in our world? If he is I should go look him up. In the meantime, we have more important matters to deal with. Namely, where's Winry?"

All of a sudden Winry came out from an adjacent room and the boys were startled that she would suddenly appear out of nowhere.

"Winry, where have you been?" Ed said.

And Al said, "We've been worried about you."

"I was in the middle of womanly business," she said annoyed. "What. Do you think I'll come running whenever either of you call my name? Please! I have more important things to take care of. Besides, I only left for a moment."

Womanly business? Ed observed. Girls don't talk like that. Well, they would if they were being controlled by the supernatural presence of a man, like Envy. "Winry, did anything strange happen while Al and I were joined by the Mind Melding?" He didn't want to let on that they knew Envy had taken harbor inside Winry's body. However, he did want to know how much of an influence he was having on her.

"Like what?" she said.

Al looked at Ed, and Ed gave him a short shake of his head warning him not to reveal what they knew; what Maes Hughes had told them.

"Anything out of the ordinary?" Ed remarked.

"No, should there've been?" she said. "Before I left the room you two were still bonded. Al's hands were taped to your head and you were bound by his Alchemy binding spell. Which makes me curious. How did you get free?"

"We worked together to free ourselves," Ed simply said. "However you should've been here to help us so we didn't have to go through all that trouble." Ed then he took a step forward and looked her straight in the eyes. "The question still stands: Where were you?"

"Do you want me to spell it out to you, Edward Elric? I was in the bathroom!"

Edward's expression was that of a disbeliever and she looked at him with a confused expression. Then she looked at Al and his expression was similar. "Why are you two looking at me like that?" she said.

"'Cause we don't believe you," Al openly said.

"How dare you say something like that Alphonse Elric!" Winry said. "Why would I lie about something like that? I was in the bathroom. I'm sorry I choose that time to leave you guys, but how was I supposed to know you'd wake up now?"

Al turned and said to Ed, "There's something in her voice that makes me believe her, brother," Al said.

"Don't let'em fool you, Al, we've been fooled by him before."

"Him who?" Winry said.

"Envy," Ed said. "He somehow transferred his consciousness to you, Winry, and now he's hiding out in your body."

Winry looked stunned. "Envy! But I thought Envy and the rest of the Homunculus were dead?"

"We thought so too," Al said. "But we learned that Envy somehow stored a part of his consciousness in Ed's body before he died to wait in his brain. A few weeks ago that essence awakened and started to dominate Ed in an unusual way."

"You mean the waking hallucinations?" she said.

"Yes," Al said. And he went on to explain all that they had experienced inside Ed's mind for which Envy strategically manipulated and domineered. "Now that we're out of Ed's mind, we believe Envy has also escaped and is in you."

"But I don't feel any different, I feel normal," Winry said, unsure. She looked over her body, but felt no difference in how she felt or looked. "If Envy is in my body, wouldn't he have shown himself by now?"

Ed rubbed his chin with his right hand thoughtfully. "Yes, which strikes me as odd," he said.

"How so, brother?" Al asked.

"Envy wanted a new body and now he has one, why hide now?" Ed ventured.

"Maybe the transference weakened him?" Al speculated. "You saw how weak his other self was inside your mind, how easily we were able to capture him."

"True, but I'm not convinced that Envy is merely hiding inside Winry," he contemplated. "I think there's more to this escape than meets the eye. There's something we're missing, a piece of the puzzle that doesn't fit."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Ed?" Winry spoke.

"I'm just thinking out loud," he said. "I'm not sure either, but until Envy surfaces we'd better keep a close eye on you, Winry."

"And if he does surface, how'll we get him out?" Al wondered.

Ed didn't have an answer for him. "We'll deal with that later," he said. "By the way, Winry, where's Den? I don't see him around and he's always at your side."

"He went for a walk with grandmother to town," she said. Ed thought that was suspicious but it was kind of plausible and it could explain why both of them weren't around. "There's a sale going on in town, and as I couldn't leave you, I gave her a list of what I wanted - a wish list I made last week in preparation for the sale - and asked her to get the items for me. Some of these items are upgrades for your automail arm, Ed, to replace worn out parts."

She went over to him and lifted up his metallic arm, eyeing it over. "And since you've grown another inch, your arm needs to be extended and the muscle density expanded to correspond with the rest of your body. You don't want to go around with one arm shorter and thinner than the other, do you?"

Ed finally gave her a smile. She sounded just like the Winry he knew. She enjoyed tinkering with his automail arm, making it bigger and better, and sometimes it appeared she cared more about it then she did about him. However, deep down, he really didn't think so. All of sudden she noticed his wrist, and turned his hand over, palm upright. There was a deep slit going all the way around. "What's this?" she said. "I don't remember this being here."

Ed gulped nervously. "Ah…" he was speechless. Damn, she's seen it, he thought. She's gonna kill me. "I'm made some modifications," he said.

"What modifications?" she started to sound irritated. And Ed told her about what he had done to his hand. "You did what!" she finally said, exploding with anger. "Why in heaven's name would you go and do something like that?"

"If you'd just seen what happened a moment ago and how we escaped with Ed's detachable hand, you wouldn't be so angry," Al said. "It saved us!"

She turned and looked at him with fierce looking eyes, the kind of eyes of an animal you didn't want to challenge or they'd eat you alive! And he took a step back and cast his eyes away from her. She saw herself as the Alpha of the pack and he didn't want to stare her down. Winry was frightening at times.

Winry had an unpredictable short fuse when it came to Ed's arm. She was of the mind that she was the only one who had the authority to touch it.

"We're going to have to restore it back to normal," she then said.

"But why?" Ed voiced. "It just saved our butts when we needed it most."

"You know how much maintenance that takes to have it constantly work properly?" But she never gave them time to answer. "A lot, and I don't want to have to deal with it. Besides, I liked it better before. And it's easier to fix."

Winry let go of his arm and Ed looked at his hand, squeezed a fist and released it. She went over and grabbed a wrench from her work bench. "It feels fine, Winry, there's no ill-effects from the modification," he said. "I want to keep it. Besides, you never know when something like this will come in handy again."

All of a sudden Al shouted, "Look out, Ed!" while Ed was busy looking at his hand, and Winry swiped the wrench through the air and struck Ed across the side of the head with it. Ed fell over and collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Winry looked down at him and smirked mischievously. "Never let your guard down, Edward Elric," she said.

"I knew it! You are in control of Winry's body, Envy," Al said. She looked at him, a portion of blood dripping from the wrench.

"Fine time to speak your mind, Alphonse Elric," Envy said. "But it does little help for your brother now. You were always the quiet one."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Take it however you want, but you know exactly what I mean."

"What now, are you going to kill them?" Al asked.

Envy smiled mischievously and chuckled. "No, but I will take your body, Al," he said. Al gasped shocked. "Ed was right, I haven't finished what I started."

"Why do you want my body so bad?"

"Your body itself is useless to me, but what it contains is priceless."

"I don't understand," Al expressed.

"I wouldn't think you would," Envy said. "You're a powerful Alchemist, Al, but you can be dense and clueless. You body holds the secret of life. You were once turned into the Philosopher's Stone and a part of it still resides in you. That is what I want. With it, I can restore my body and plaque the world again."

"But I thought the purpose of all Homunculi was to become human?"

"Initially that was our purpose," he said. "After we accomplished what the Master told us to do - your father - he promised us that he'd make us fully human or close enough. But little did we know that we were only fooling ourselves. Why would we convert ourselves to flesh and bone and become as weak as you if we could live forever and use our gifts for a much more insidious purpose. I want to live to again, but not as a human. I want my original body back and you will help me get it, Al."

"But your body was destroyed when you entered the Gate, getting that body back is impossible."

"Impossible you say, hardly," Envy said. "Your proof that it can be done."

"But my situation was different. You Homunculi don't have a soul. My soul was bonded to armor by a blood stain. You're nothing but consciousness."

"The soul, as human's call it, is nothing but consciousness," Envy retorted. "That is the essence of existence. Being sentient is what life is all about. Experiencing your surroundings through sensor perception is in itself life. Spiritual consciousness is nothing but being aware of consciousness. And through existence consciousness begets life. Do you now understand why I want your body?"

Al shook his head, but not because he didn't understand what Envy was saying, but because he couldn't allow Envy to get what he wanted. "No. You're not getting my body," Al said firm. "I'll stop you first, even it means… sacrificing myself and them."

Envy let our a full blown laugh. "How pathetic, Al," he said. "You lie so badly."

"I'm not lying. I will sacrifice my brother, Winry, and myself, if it means you die with us. I won't allow you to exist again."

"How 'bout we make a wager then?"

"Wager on what?"

"Existence," Envy said, smiling deviously. "If you defeat me in battle I'll relent, but if you lose I'll take your body."

"We've been through this, Envy, and you lost fair and square," Al said. "You can't wager on the same bet again. There must be an equivalent exchange for such a transference to take place and a wager is not an suitable equivalent exchange."

"I was never one to follow the rules," Envy said. "Besides, I have trump card. If you don't agree to my terms, I'll kill your brother and this woman."

Al knew Envy was bluffing. It was obvious. If he killed Winry and Ed, he'd lose his advantage and he would die too. But on the other hand, Envy has learned to be resourceful in a crises. He'd proven that when they'd fought in battle. He was sadistic and insane, and highly intelligent. And if given the chance he'd probably just take his body. But Al couldn't let that happen.

"Fine," he finally said. "I accept your challenge, Envy."

Envy smirked amused. "I knew you would, Alphonse, 'cause you're so predictable," he said. "It's time I live again!"

_To be continued..._


	16. Chapter 16

That insidious smirk. Those deep blood red eyes. That sharp elongated hair. Envy was the embodiment of evil and he looked it. And Alphonse Elric knew it.

As they moved outside, Envy in Winry's body morphed to give himself a more formable shape in which to fight. Still, with all that power at his disposal he could not perform Alchemy, which gave Al a distinct advantage.

But Envy was quick, like a jack rabbit after it had just seen a hunter, running through the tall grass, fleeing the sounds of a shotgun. But Envy was no coward. In all truth, he thrived on it. It excited him. And the higher the risk the more he got off on it! He was not going to flee from this fight. It was pay back for all he had gone through to get this far and everything the Elric brothers had done to him in the past. He had no intentions of losing.

He had his body, but it was a woman's body. Any body would probably suffice, but he wanted Al's body and what it contained inside: The Philosopher's Stone. With it he'd get his real body back, the same one he lost through the Gate, or at least that's what Ed's memories told him. He didn't have definitive proof of what really happened to his body because not even Edward Elric saw what happened. All he knew was that he stepped through the gate and it closed after him. That was all Edward saw and that was all he knew, or was telling him.

But Envy knew there was more to the story than Ed was telling him. He had dove deep down into Ed's subconscious and plucked out countless secrets, but for some reason and for whatever reason - Edward Elric was not revealing what his fate had been. It had something to do with the other side of the gate, but that was all he knew. Once he got what he wanted he'd get the truth, the whole truth!

Envy stood on a rocky dirt path facing Al. They stood several meters apart, a safe distance from his perspective. There was no telling what Al would do when actually provoked. But he was about find out because he was about to.

He feared nothing from the other Elric brother because he was incapacitated and was out cold, unconscious from the blow of a wrench to the back of the head. The idiot! He had him figured out from the very beginning and guessed right that he had moved his consciousness to Winry Rockbell's body. But the fool let his guard down for the briefest of moments and that cost him.

Edward Elric sat unconscious with his back against the side of the Rockbell house with his hands confined, transmuted in a wooden board. It was the safest way to keep his hands apart so he couldn't do Alchemy when he woke up. He didn't want any interference. He wanted to fight Al. Al was the weaker Alchemist. Despite being a State Alchemist, he still didn't have the power Edward had. And perhaps that was why Al looked a little nervous right now.

"Well Alphonse, it appears we're at a stand-off," he said. "Who will make the first move? Shall it be me or you? Shall we toss a coin and let it decide?" He smirked insidiously. Al began to sweat. "What's the matter, Alphonse? You look apprehensive. Why don't you attack me? Or is it because harming me will harm her?" And he suddenly morphed back into Winry. He cupped Winry's breasts in his hands and fondled them. "Ah, the supple touch of a woman's breasts. With all honestly, I've never experienced them before. They're quite nice."

Al tightened both fists at his side and gritted his teeth enraged that he would do that to Winry. "You leave her alone, you son-of-a-bitch!"

Envy laughed in his causal manner finding Al's emotional outburst amusing. Homunculi didn't have emotions and he was often fascinated by the human condition and their emotions despite hating them with a passion. Wraith experienced emotions before he beat him to a pulp to stop. The little brat was just so emotionally unstable after the death of Sloth, whom he called his mother. But he had no mother, no Homunculi did. They were artificial beings without souls and without emotions. But somehow Wraith was difficult.

Nevertheless, he always found it amusing to see how emotions controlled humans. They were both their strength and their ultimate weakness. And it was fun to see just how far they'd go with their emotions in control. Would they save themselves at the last second from something stupid or die - giving their lives for what they felt was a worthy cost? He knew Al's weakness and it was his emotions. Now all he had to was exploit them and this fight will be over.

"Temper, temper, Alphonse," Envy said smirking. "Your emotions will be your downfall. . ." _and I'm planning on it_. "Did I strike a nerve with Winry? I thought so." He let go of her breasts and looked down at the rest of Winry's thin girlish figure. "She has quite a lovely figure, don't you think Al? She'll make someone a wonderful wife someday. Maybe even yours. . .that's if you don't kill her first." Envy felt the curvature of her hips and the firmness of her buttocks. He slapped her cheeks and laughed. He looked back to Al. "C'mon Al, you've gotten admit she is a beautiful woman."

He was right, Winry was beautiful. But he wasn't going to give Envy the satisfaction of admitting that. "You leave her alone or else!" he said, his voice filled with anger.

"That's so beneath you, Alphonse," Envy said, again amused by Al's remarks. "You're not the kind of person someone would take seriously when given an ultimatum. I do believe you care for Winry Rockbell very much and not in a platonic way. You love her. Your face shows your weakness. I'll tell you what. We'll trade. This girl for the remains of the Philosopher's Stone inside your body. We'll call that an equivalent exchange, okay?"

"No deal, Envy," Al said firmly. "I can't allow you to obtain whatever you think I have. Besides, I don't have what you want."

"That's where you're wrong and I'll prove it when I rip it outta your body." Quickly Envy got impatient and he squeezed a tight fist at his side. He was getting nowhere talking. He suddenly morphed Winry's body back and adorned his usual skimpy, black, tight outfit. His usual attire. "The time for talking is over, Al. This is your last chance. Give me the Philosopher's Stone or I'll tear it from your lifeless corpse when I beat you to death!"

Envy couldn't perform Alchemy, but he still had the power to alter his body to anything he wished, even when in another body, so Al wasn't totally shocked when Winry disappeared and Envy appeared. But he was worried about what else he could do. "I dare you to try, Envy," he said, smirking smugly. And Envy was confused by it. "Let's play a game first. My favorite when I was kid in fact."

"I don't play games," Envy flat out said.

"Oh, you'll like this one," Al said. "I guarantee it."

Suddenly Al turned and bolted across an open field and headed towards a near-by forest.

Envy stood stunned that Al would suddenly do that. But that was Alphonse Elric, in his opinion. The only Elric brother who hated confrontation and did everything possible to try to avoid it. "I hate playing games," he said. "But seeing I have all the cards in my hand I think it's time to have a little fun with my prey before I make the kill. Very well. I'll play your little game, Alphonse Elric. And when I find you I'll shred you to pieces and use the Philosopher Stone to obtain that which was wrongfully taken away from me."

He quickly glanced at Edward Elric. Seeing he was no threat, Envy ran after Al.

Al managed to make it into the forest without any interference from Envy, which was what he had planned. He wasn't running scared though he tried to avoid confrontation at all costs. He preferred a diplomatic solution to using Alchemy. But he had to get Envy away from the Rockbell house and into this forest for his plan to work. Diplomacy wouldn't work so he had to get to a place where he knew would make the perfect battle ground. And in the forest, he could use Nature as his weapon.

He ran deeper into the forest and entered a thicket and stopped for a moment. He looked around with purpose. He had to find it. He knew he hid it around here somewhere in a tree truck. In one of these trees was his father's Samurai sword. But which one? They all look so different now. The last time he was here it was years ago and in that time the trees had grown and the foliage had changed.

But it was here somewhere. That he knew for certain. He had hid the sword deep in a tree truck near the entrance of the thicket. But which tree was it? During a conversion they had, Dad told him he had endowed it with Alchemy so he knew it could be very useful against Envy. But how to use it was another question.

Suddenly he hear a noise and the rustling of leaves. He turned around towards the noise.

Envy jumped out from behind a thicket of brushes and pounced on him, pinning him to the ground. "Now that wasn't fun at all," Envy said. "I found you almost immediately. I don't think you're playing this game right."

Al pushed Envy off him and ran behind a tree. Envy smirked. "You're only delaying the enviable, Al. Give me want I want and I'll leave you in peace."

"Forget it Envy, I'll fight you to the very end," Al said, and Envy suddenly heard a loud clap and the tree before him began to fall forward. He narrowly jumped out of the way before it came crashing to the ground. "In here, Nature is my weapon and it's going to help me defeat you."

Al clapped again and touched the ground and suddenly several roots erupted out of the ground and wrapped themselves around Envy. Envy struggled against their tight grip, but for the moment he couldn't free himself. Al stepped out into a cleaning and faced Envy. "I want you to leave Winry now."

"You're so naïve and so foolish," Envy said with a grinning crooked smile. He pushed against the roots and expanded his body to snap their grip on him. They dropped to the ground around him. Al took a step back in disbelief. "Life is so fragile and it can be manipulated to serve so many purposes. But when you alter the substance of nature you weaken its balance and thus its strength."

Al fled jumping over the fallen tree, but he accidentally tripped on a root sticking out of the ground and fell to the ground banging his right knee on a rock. He cupped his right knee with both hands and hissed in pain. Envy leapt onto the fallen tree and crouched over him like a hunter about to devour its prey. And if he was Gluttony, he would have. "You're so clumsy Al," Envy said. "Perhaps being separated from your body for so long has made you awkward."

Al clapped his hands quickly and touched the ground erecting a wall of dirt between them. He then got up and ran as fast as he could deeper into the forest, limping with his bad knee.

Envy didn't pursue. Instead he sat down on the tree trunk and thoughtfully stared at the wall of dirt before him. But smiling crookedly while doing so. He sat there for more than a minute before finally getting up. He used to play Hide and Go Seek when he was a child with his mother - or the woman who he came to think of as his mother before he knew where he really came from - and remembered the thrill of the hunt when he went to look for her. It was the excitement of finding her that enticed him, not the game itself. And he wanted to give Alphonse Elric some time to hide before he went to seek.

He stood before the dirt wall and looked up to the top. Then using his hands he morphed his limbs into sharp knives cutting a large hole directly through it, large enough for him to step through. "You can run, Al, but you can't hide," he said. "'Cause I know where you are at all times. With the Philosopher Stone as my guide, there's nowhere in this forest where I can't find you."

Suddenly he leapt high into the air to the near-by branch of a tree and started hopping like an animal through the trees tops.

The pursuit was on.

Meanwhile, Ed regained consciousness and he found that his hands were trapped in a thick piece of wood. There were no seems so it was obvious that Al was forced to transmute the wood around his hands so he couldn't clap and perform Alchemy. That was no doubt Envy's idea, he thought.

He tried to stand up, but he was suddenly yanked back and choked, feeling a tightness around his throat. He felt his throat and found there was some sort of iron shackle around it attached to a chain. He looked back and found that the chain was attacked to a thick steel pole. He was chained up like a dog.

"Al!" he called out. But his brother didn't answer him.

Then he listened and found that his surroundings were too quiet. Where was everyone?

_**To be continued...  
** _


	17. Chapter 17

Al ran through the forest trying to flee from Envy.

A droplet of water splashed against Al's right cheek as rain began to fall. The forest managed to cover itself mostly, but it couldn't stop it all as another droplet struck his other cheek. The rain then began to heavily seed the entire area, turning the once hard ground into soft muck and slop.

But he couldn't let the weather stop him because a mad insane killer was in pursuit. The only way he had any way of defending himself against Envy was to find his father's Samurai sword. With his alchemic powers along with what his father had told him what the sword had the ability to do - it was the only way to stop him. It had the ability to enhance his abilities and nullify Envy's. His father said it was Envy's Achilles heel.

Every Homunculi had an object that rendered them innate and vulnerable to attack. It reminded them of how they came to exist in this world through the sin of their originator. Envy was Al's father's sin. His father envied to be free of the constraints of his deteriorating condition as an inhuman being.

Envy was the first of the original seven cardinal sins that was given birth. He was also the smartest and most cunning. His ability to morph into anyone stemmed from Hohenheim's ability to use Alchemy to transfer his consciousness to another body. It was later determined that Hohenheim was over 400 years old. He left Ed and Al to be raised solely by their mother because he couldn't bare to have his wife find out about who and what he really was.

But the guilt of leaving his family was too great and he returned to Resenbul to see them, only to learn that his wife had died from some mysterious disease and his boys had dabbled in a forbidden Alchemy that cost them dearly.

Ed hated Hohenheim for what he had done. He had left them at a crucial time when they needed him most. After their mother died, Ed and Al had to survive on their own. Although they had the help of Winry and her grandmother and Teacher, they insisted on getting by on their own. Al was too young to understand why their father left, but the hatred in Ed's heart began to swell. He promised Al that he'd always look after him - and he had kept that promise until he became trapped in the other world, an alternative reality from this one, and couldn't.

His last act of brotherly love was to sacrifice himself to restore his brother's body by using the Philosopher's Stone. Al had sacrificed himself to restore Ed back to life when Envy plunged his arm through Ed's chest. Being one with the Philosopher's Stone - it was all Al could do to help him. But in the end - when Ed returned to this world - all was restored to somewhat normal.

Even through Ed still retained his automail limbs, he didn't mind. He felt they were a constant reminder of what they had tried to do - to bring back mom. Al had no way of repaying Ed for his sacrifice and his memories were still in pieces - what they had experienced in those six years as they traveled the countryside to restore their bodies was still foggy. But as the saying went: Time heals all wounds. And with Ed recalling their adventures and what Teacher told him before she died, Al was finally putting his life back together again. Because when he was restored to his body - he had his memory erased of everything that had happened in those six years.

It was almost as if everything that had happened when his soul was bonded to that suit of armor happened to someone else.

His boots began to get caked with wet mud and he felt the weight of it on his feet as he ran through the forest, the squishing of water and mud underfoot. He was trying to back track - go in a circle - to get back to the area where he thought he stashed his father's sword in a tree trunk. But the more he tried to maneuver through the foliage the more he felt he was getting lost.

Nothing looked familiar anymore. The forest had changed considerably since last he was in it when he was a boy. The foliage had overgrown to an extent that nothing was what it was. It was like making his way through a jungle of bush.

Suddenly he heard a twig crack underfoot and he halted in his tracks. He looked behind him from which he had come and froze peering through the rain. His hair soaked, his face drenched, his clothes wet - but nothing of that concerned him. Envy was the only thing on his mind and he readied his hands to perform Alchemy if he needed to. He'd use his surroundings to temporarily stop him.

But Envy was right. Once you alter the chemical make-up of an object and change it into something else, you weaken its stability. As it wasn't supposed to be in that form in the first place - the object needs time to settle in its new form. One thing doesn't just become something else - its elements must redistribute themselves for the new form to be permanent. How much time is unknown, but that is a well known law of Alchemy.

So if he did use Alchemy to alter Nature again against Envy, Envy would just free himself from its bonds. That's why he needed his father's sword to enhance his Alchemic powers. He didn't have automail limbs like his brother that he can change at will. He was flesh and blood through and through and thus fragile.

After remaining still for a few moments, he exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding and turned back around to continue along the path he was taking. Believing it was some sort of animal. But another twig snapped and he jerked around again as it sounded closer.

He crouched down to hide himself in long grass and peered through the foliage. If he had to he'd jump Envy and catch him off guard, and use his first to pummel him. But then he remembered that that was Winry's body Envy's consciousness was inhabiting. He had to think of another way to subdue him. But maybe he could slow Envy down.

Another twig snapped. And it sounded like Envy was very close, on the path that snaked through the forest just beyond the long grass. So Al prepared himself and then lunged out at him, barreling into him, clutching his arms around Envy and dragging him to the ground. Al and the other hit hard and slapped against the wet ground.

"What the-" the voice of the other said. "What do you think you're doing?"

Al opened his eyes. He looked through the mud that had splashed on his face as he hit the ground and saw that he had not captured Envy, but a complete stranger. But this could be one of Envy's tricks. He had the ability to morph into anyone. "Who are you?" Al demanded, not letting go.

"My name's Noah Mahjongg - who the hell are you?" the stranger said.

"Alphonse Elric. I'm a State Alchemist."

"Do all State Alchemist's jump travelers and hold them against their will?"

"Only one's who think you're an escaped prisoner."

"Do I look like an escaped prisoner to you?"

"This individual is very couth, a master of disguise."

"I assure you this is who I am. Now release me, Mr. State Alchemist."

For some reason Al sensed that the person - a teenager like himself and maybe his age too - was speaking the truth, and against his better judgment he released him hoping that he had made a mistake. It turned out that he had.

NaohMahjongg got to his feet and looked at himself. He was filthy. He picked up what looked like a backpack and held it above the mud. Then he looked at Alphonse Elric and saw that he was just a teenager. But he did wear the State Alchemist pocket watch he had heard so much about given to military State Alchemist's. He extended a hand and helped him up. Alphonse was just as dirty. "You wanna explain to me just what's going on, Alphonse Elric?" Naoh asked.

"I'm sorry, but that's classified," Al said. "Forgive me for jumping you."

"You're after an escaped prisoner, right? What does this person look like, maybe I've seen him."

"He has many different forms," Al explained. "I doubt you'd know him if you had seen him."

Suddenly Envy jumped down from a tree and landed in the wet mud beside them, splashing them both. Al wiped the mud from his face and then jumped back to prepare for his attack. But Envy did not attack and merely laughed at Al. He crossed his arms across his chest and said, "Ah-ha! I've found you, Alphonse Elric. That wasn't much of a chase or a challenge" Then he noticed the stranger. "And who is this, an ally? Do you know Alchemy as well?"

"No, I'm not an Alchemist," Naoh Mahjongg said. "Is this that escaped prisoner you were taking about, Alphonse?"

And Envy laughed. "Escaped prisoner? I'm no escaped prisoner. I'm his brother. Well, his very distant brother. But apparently he doesn't me very much."

"Is this a joke, Elric?" Noah said annoyed. "You two are playing some sort of a game, aren't you? How dare you masquerade as a State Alchemist and tell me your brother is an escaped prisoner. I'm going to report you, Alphonse Elric. It's people like you who give real State Alchemist's a bad name."

Envy laughed again. "But I am a real State Alchemist," Al said. "And this is a very dangerous individual. Unfortunately he's also my brother. I can't tell you all the details, but you must get away from here immediately! Now!"

"You damn right I'm leaving and I'm going to report you for this lie," Noah said.

"I may be a mass murderer, but I'm not going to just stand around and have you call my brother a lair. Even though I hate him." Envy said. And he quickly jolt at him and grabbed Noah Mahjongg's face with a hand, squeezing it hard. "Alphonse Elric is indeed a fully fledged State Alchemist, the second youngest only to his elder brother. And now you know the truth, can you die?" Using some sort of hidden power, he made Noah scream before he dropped limp to the ground.

Al looked on in horror. "You killed him?" he said. "But why? He was an innocent by-stander just making his way through the forest."

"There are no innocent by-standers in war, Alphonse Elric. Everyone is a causality. And he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The anger began to swell in Al and he squeezed a fist at his side. "How dare you use Winry's body to conduct murder," he said angrily. "I won't allow it!"

"And what do you intend to do about it?" Envy smirked.

Seeing the stranger laying dead in the mud enraged and overwhelmed him, and Al couldn't allow Envy get away with that. He was a State Alchemist and hence he had a duty to the people. So he had no other choice but to fight him.

He ran and barreled into Envy's stomach, tossing him back into the long grass foliage. It may be Winry's body he's using, but until he could free her of his influence he had to stop him somehow or he'll kill again. Envy, temporarily distracted by Al's uncharacteristic attack, was unprepared for Al's next attack; and Al pounced on him like a wild cat. They then rolled around in the grass; each other attempting to dominate the other.

Envy took a swing at Al, but it missed. And it was all Al could do not to retaliate in the same manner, because if he did he would be striking Winry. And he couldn't do that. The only thing he could do was try to subdue Envy and force him to submit. But that was easier said than done.

Envy kicked him off him. Free, he leapt into the air and turned the tables on Al. This time he did the pouncing and pinned him to the ground. Then he started punching him, swiftly striking him in the face and stomach.

Al could only put one arm up to defend.

"I want the Philosopher's Stone, Al, and I'm willing to do anything to get it. And if that means killing you, then I'm prepared to commit murder. . .again."

"I told you I don't have it," Al replied, trying to block Envy's attacks. But he wasn't having much success with just one arm.

"And I told you I don't believe you. It's a part of your genetic make-up now and after I refine it - I'll use it to bring the State to its knees. I'll have the power of a god."

"But if you kill me, who's body will you use?"

Envy smirked. "Who do you care? But now that I think about it, your brother's body wouldn't be such a bad choice after all. And It'll be fun trashing the heroic name of Elric across the countryside. The scourge of the State, they'd call him. Once the hero of the people, now he will be their killer."

"Nooo!" Al cried out, and he grabbed Envy's chin and face and pushed it up in an attempt to stop him from pummeling him.

Envy grabbed Al's arm and tried to pull it away, but his grip was so strong and he was surprised he had that much strength left after all those punches. Bloodied and battered, Al managed to free his other arm and added it to push Envy off him. He quickly scuttled back and got to his feet.

He looked at Envy through a half sworn eye and blood curdling down his face from his nose and mouth. "I won't allow you to hurt Winry or my brother," he said with intensity. "And you'll pay for killing that stranger!"

Envy laughed. "Your threats mean very little to me, Alphonse Elric," he said. "There's nothing you can do to me that you won't regret. I still have Winry and if you want to save her you'll give me the Philosopher's Stone. Now!"

"Apparently you don't hear too well. I don't have it. And I have no idea where it is. When I was restored to my body the Philosopher's Stone disappeared. So you're barking up the wrong tree. This pursuit of yours is futile."

"I don't believe you. The Philosopher's Stone resides in you. And there's nothing you can say that will make me think otherwise."

"Then what else can I do but. . ."

And Al clapped his hands and erected a round encasement of dirt integrated with grass and foliage around Envy. It wouldn't hold him for long, but it would give Al a chance to get away temporarily. Finished with the transmutation, Al then bolted down the path as quickly as he could.

Envy sliced through the habitual encasement easily and escaped through a hole he made.

"Once again you try my patience, Alphonse," Envy said. Then he looked at the stranger he killed laying on the ground, and smirked. "But no matter. Things are about to heat up. There's more than one way to skin a cat. . .or an Elric brother."

_To be continued...  
_


	18. Chapter 18

There was a tremendous banging inside Pinako's room, then came a dog's scratch from the inside of the cloest door, and barking. This is where Envy had stashed Winry's grandmother and dog, Den. They had not gone to town as he had claimed. Of course.

Pinako couldn't move her arms. She was tied up with rope with her hands behind her back, and her mouth was gagged with a bandana. Den had fallen unconscious when Envy hit him on the head with a steel pipe. Such a hard blow to a dog might have been fatal, but Den was an unusually strong mutt. He had been through a lot in his life. But even so, he was a lucky dog.

Pinako grunted through the bandana and Den went over to her, pulling the cloth down from her mouth. It dropped around her neck. "Thank you Den. Now how are we going to get out of here?" Den gave was could only be determined as a sigh. But then he reached behind her and gnawed on her robes. After about a minute, she was free. Pinkao unraveled the robes and opened the closet door. "We have to find Edward and Alphonse. . .and why Winry did this," she said.

They left her room and crossed the living quarters and workshop to get to the front door. Opening the door they were witness to a shocking sight. Edward was sitting next to the house on the ground chained up like a dog and his wrists were trapped in a thick piece of ply wood, separating his hands. Den ran down the stairs to him, and Pinako followed suit.

When Ed saw them, he breathed out a deep sigh of relief. "Mother Pinako," he started to say smiling, "I'm glad you're safe. Where were you?"

"We were locked in my bedroom closet. Winry put us there. What happened to you?" she asked, looking at him. It seemed that the thick piece of ply wood was transmuted around Edward's hands and there was steel choker collar around his neck to keep him secured. As he couldn't perform Alchemy without his hands, he was trapped. "Something's wrong with Winry," she then said. "Why would she attack us like that and then lock us in the closet?"

"Because Envy is inhabiting her body."

"Envy. . .but how?" she said, looking shocked.

And Ed told her the entire story from beginning to end.

"If that Homunculi hurts my granddaughter, there's gonna be hell to pay!" she said upset and angry. "You must help her, Edward."

"I know, but I'm a little tied up at the moment. Any help would be appreciated."

"Hold up your arms," she said. Ed did so. And with a swift karate chop, she broke the piece of wood in two. Edward was astounded. "When I was a kid, my parents thought it would benefit me if I took martial arts lessons. You didn't think this old woman lead a completely mundane and boring life, did you?"

Edward smiled. "The thought never crossed my mind," he said. With his hands free, he clapped them and touched the wood, transmuting it into tiny blocks. Then he clapped again and touched the steel collar around his neck and transmuted that into scrap. Free, he got to his feet. "I gotta go find Al," he then said. "Envy wants his body, and for some reason he thinks Al has the Philosopher Stone."

"The Philosopher Stone? Why would he think that?"

"Because when Al's soul was bonded to that suit of armor, Scar turned him into the Philosopher's Stone using thousands of soldier's lives. I never told him this, but Scar used nearly 9,000 soldiers to refine the stone." Pinako was shocked to say the least. "I know. And I don't want Al to know. If he did, who knows what he'll do. He'd probably have survivor's guilt."

"Then you must catch up with him before Envy does," she said. "And bring back Winry safe and sound." He nodded agreed, but how he was going to do that he didn't know yet.

Envy wanted a human body to live again and he knew Envy wouldn't settle for Winry. He wanted Al's body so he could get his hands on the Philosopher Stone. For which Al didn't have.

The stone disappeared when he made an equivalent exchange to restore Al to life, which quintessentially took him to that alterative world. For two years he tried to get back. And if it wasn't for Al's determination and the real Envy's stupidity trapped in an Ouroboros, he would've never gotten back.

He thought for a moment and remembered the events that transpired in his mind, especially the swamp battle, where Envy controlled him like a puppet to fight his brother. Al had transmuted the elements of his surroundings into a sword to fight Envy with, but instead used it to defend against Envy's puppeteer influence over Ed. Ed remembered that sword. Al treasured it, it was their late father's samurai sword that he kept on two hooks in his office in their house.

Al didn't think anyone was watching him when he took into the forest to play with it. But Ed knew and watched him in secret. From what he saw, Al was a skilful swordsman. He played - or practiced - with it almost on a daily bases until their mother's death. He stashed it in the hallow portion of a tree trunk near the entrance of the forest every night before he'd come home.

Ed found books on swordsmanship hidden underneath Al's bed. He never told Al that he knew, but he wondered if that's where his brother went. . .to retrieve the sword. Why, he didn't know. With Envy's morphing abilities, the sword would be almost useless. But it seemed the most likely place he would go. And where Envy would follow. Besides, there was no where else to go but the forest.

"I think I know where they are," he said.

"Where?" Pinako asked.

"In the forest, over there," Ed replied, and he pointed. "They have to be there. The rest of the countryside around here is pretty barren. That would be the most logical place they'd be and it would be the perfect battleground for Al. Al is a naturist and he uses Nature in his Alchemy more than anything. I'd bet my automail that that's where they are. Al probably knew he hold Envy off there."

"Be careful, Edward. I feel your battle with Envy isn't over and the worse is yet to come."

"Why do you say that?"

"Woman's intuition. Please find Winry and bring her back safely. Promise me."

This time he had to give her an answer. "I promise," he said. But he didn't know how truthful that answer was.

He then ran towards the forest, and hoped things hadn't escalated out of control before he could get to them.

"Al, I'm comin'," he said. "Please still be alive."

_To be continued..._


	19. Chapter 19

Edward entered the forest, and as he traveled down a beaten trail that snaked through the woodland, he came across a weird looking sight. Standing in front of him, in front of a tree that had been torn by its roots and dropped across the path, was a large wall of dirt, and in the middle, was a large round hole, that looked like it had been carved out by some sort of sharp object.

Al erected this, he was almost certain.

Suddenly, he jerked his head as he heard the sound of crunching twigs underfoot. He clapped his hands together and transmuted part of his right arm into a metal blade. If it was Envy, he'd need to be ready.

Someone burst out of a hedge thicket and to Ed's surprise it was Al. Al collapsed to his knees and breathed out heavy, out of breath, as if he had been running away from something or someone. Was Envy chasing him?

"Al!" Ed called to him, and ran over.

Al turned his head towards his brother's voice. He then produced a thin smile. But from behind all the bruising and blood on his face, it was hardly visible.

Seeing his brother battered and bloodied, and his clothes caked in mud, Ed crouched down beside him, and said, "Al, look at you. What the hell happened?"

"Envy," he straightly said. "We got into a fight."

"Who won?" Ed asked.

"It was a draw, and I ran away after enclosing him in an pillar of dirt. It won't hold long. He's probably after me right now. I'm glad you're here."

"Where is he now?" Ed asked.

"Don't know," Al said, finally calming down. He got to his feet. "I never looked back. I never concerned myself a coward."

"You did the right thing, Al," Ed assured him. "Judging by your injuries, you were smart to run from him. It appears normal Alchemy won't work with Envy."

"That's why we need father's sword," Al said insistent.

"What's so important about father's old sword? It can't stand up to Envy's morphing ability or his bag of dirty tricks."

"Yes, it can!" Al stated firm. "Remember when father came back to Resenbool Village and you hit him because you hated him for leaving us. . .and I choose to spend the night with him because I wanted to get to know him further? My soul was still bond to the armor, but anyway. . . He told me something about the sword that could help us. After I told him all the trouble we were having with the Homunculi, he told me he attached a sacred and powerful Alchemy spell to the sword that gave the wielder unlimited power."

"Unlimited power?" Ed said.

Al nodded. "That's right," he said. "And I'm hoping we can use this power to finish off Envy for good this time, if we can find it. But I don't know where I put it. Everything looks so different now since I was a kid. The foliage has overgrown and the trees have gotten a lot taller and fuller. I used to know exactly where I hid it 'cause everyday I used to practice with it."

"I know, I saw you," Ed said.

"You did? When?"

"Everyday." Ed smiled. "You were never a good lair. You told mom that you were going to practice your Nature Alchemy in the forest, but the strange thing about it was, when it came time for you to show Mom what you practiced, it was like you never practiced at all, 'cause you were playing with the sword."

"Practicing, not playing, brother," Al corrected him. "I was homing my skills with father's sword because I knew I'd never be as good an Alchemist as you were, are, so I had to affix another skill. I wanted to be a skillful swordsman, so could match your skills in some other way. I was jealous of you."

"You're not the jealous type, Al."

"Back then I was, and I'm still a little now. In these last two years, even with Teacher's help and your return from the other world, I'm still not as skilled an Alchemist as you are."

"But you're a dog of the military, Al," Ed said. "They wouldn't have chosen you if you didn't have what it takes to be a State Alchemist."

"I think they choose me because you were missing and they thought I'd be just as skillful and powerful as you were when you were a State Alchemist. They'd rather have me on a leach, then allow me to roam free, I think. Sometimes I think they demand too much of me, however. My first mission wasn't as rosy as yours. And like you, I too was assigned a mission to investigate a mine."

"You call overthrowing a money-hungry dictator an easy mission?"

"You wanna know what my first mission was as a State Alchemist?"

"You told me. They had you inspecting the Mines of Cala, in the Western district, in the remote town of Cala. The people rebelled against their military overseer and killed him. You managed to quiet the rebellion by capturing the rebel leader and settled it diplomatically."

"That was the official story, but the truth was much more grim. They captured me anddragged me into the Mines of Cala,where they stripped me naked and hung me up by my thumbs, and whipped me until I almost unconscious for being a State Alchemist. They said I had nocause for being there and this was payback for the State's interference."

Edward's eyes widened with shock. "You never told me that?" he said.

"I never told anyone, and I never wrote it down in the official report. If the State knew what they had done to me, there would've been questions and it could've resulted in a mini civil war. I didn't want to be the cause of something like that, so I kept it hush-hush; and promised the rebel leader leniency if he cooperated and surrendered peacefully after I broke free and threatened to destroy the mine, ruining the town's livelihood. That was not so long ago, too. I still have the scars on my body to prove it."

"Once this is all over with Envy, I wanna see those scars."

"What for?" Al said. "It's all in the past now and I don't regret anything. Besides, after watching you all those years, from what I could remember - my mind is still a little foggy about things - you rolled with the punches, too. You took a few licks and didn't tell Mustang. So, I'm taking a page from your book." Al shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, I'm a State Alchemist now, and it's part of my job description. I know the risks when I'm assigned a mission."

"But you're obligated to report any infractions and-"

"Stop it, Ed," he told his brother. "We off track here. You wanna discuss my first mission in more detail, then fine, we can do it later at Winry's, but only after we get her back safe and sound, and kill Envy."

Ed was a little unnerved by Al's desire for revenge. He had always been the pacifist and choose to settle things by some sort of diplomatic solution. But now he was seeing a whole new side of his brother and it scared him a little. Maybe it was because he was a little older and mature, and perhaps the discipline of being a dog of the military chilled his heart from the outspoken, kind-hearted brother he once knew. Those two years away from him had changed him. But he looked more confident wearing his old clothes. The black jacket and pants and boots to match, and the red jacket. He had even grew a ponytail.

"Fine," Ed said, his tone a little angry. "We can discuss the past later, but we will discuss it. You're right. Getting Winry back is our top priority. But where is Envy?"

"Probably stealing what he can from that traveler he killed," Al said.

Ed looked at him in awe. "Envy killed someone?" he said.

"Yeah, and he never saw it comin'," Al said. "His name was Noah Mahjongg."

"Noah Mahjongg," Ed said thoughtfully. "Now why does that name sound familiar?"

"You know him?"

"I'm not sure, it's just the name sounds familiar, like I've heard it before." Ed quickly snapped the fingers of his left hand. "I've got it. Noah Mahjongg was the name of Alex Louis Armstrong's nephew." He said. "And Envy killed him?"

Al nodded.

"Are you positive Envy killed him?"

"I saw it with my own eyes," Al said. "He put a hand on Noah's face and sent some sort of unknown power through his body. Noah dropped down dead."

"Armstrong's gonna be devastated when he hears about this. Noah was his favorite nephew. And he was such a skilful, and up-and-coming Alchemist, too."

Al looked at him strange. "Wait a minute, before Noah died he said he had no Alchemy skill," he said.

"That would be Noah all right," Ed said. "He preferred no one knew his lineage. He preferred to live an estranged life. His family wanted him to join the military and become a State Alchemist, but he refused and left his home town."

"How do you know all this about him?"

"Armstrong told me about him one time. You know how proud he is of his family. And he asked me once if I ever came across him wandering the countryside to say his family misses him."

"You never told me that," Al said.

"It wasn't important enough to mention, and besides, we never met him."

"But we're brothers and brothers should tell each other everything."

Ed smirked thin. "Like you told me about being tortured on your first mission, eh?" he said.

"Fine," Al said. "From now on, no secrets, okay?"

"Deal," Ed said, he smiled. "Now, let's go find dad's sword. I know exactly where it's hidden."

Al's eyes widened with surprised. "You do?' he said.

Ed nodded. "Yup," he said. "Like I said, I was watching you."

"Then where is it?"

"It's over here," he said, and lead Al to a large tree with a gapping hold in its trunk. Ed reached inside and felt something hard and wrapped with rawhide. He pulled it out and Al's eyes lit up with excitement as he saw his father's sword for the first time in nearly eight years. The blade was a little rusty, but in his eyes, it gleamed of beauty. Ed gave it to him. "Okay Al, the ball's in your court."

"The ball's. . .where?"

"Sorry, it's a metaphor from the other world," Ed said. "It means, it's your show now. Whatever Dad told you to do with the sword, let's do it! Let's find Envy and save Winry!"

Al smirked happy. But suddenly his brow frowned as he looked at the blade of the sword.

"What's the matter, Al?" Ed said.

"Dad never told me how to use the sword's power, he just told me that the sword held an unlimited power."

"You mean, you don't know how to generate the sword's power?" Al shook his head, agreeing with Ed. "Then we'll just hafto go about it the old fashion way and fight Envy with good old fashion brawn, steel and Alchemy." He patted his automail arm. "And, I have a surprise for our so-called Homunculi brother. It's time to partake in a little revenge for everything he's done to us."

"What do you have in mind, brother?" Al asked.

"First we have to find him," he said, "then I can put my plan into action."

Just then, Ed heard a noise, the sound of twigs snapping underfoot, and it was coming from the same direction Al had come from. He put a finger to his lips and quietly lead Al's gaze to a set of tall shrubs. The boys took a couple of steps back, and Ed readied his automail blade, and Al readied the sword.

If he couldn't use the power within, Al thought, then he'd use it as just a plain sword.

The leaves shook and blew in the wind, and suddenly, to the boys stunned eyes, Noah Mahjongg stepped out into the open, alive and well.

_**To be continued...  
** _


	20. Chapter 20

The rain had stopped, but it continued to drizzle down.

Water streamed down Al's face and began to clean some of the blood away, but it could not heal his wounds. His face felt sore. But at the moment, his pain seemed secondary to the sight before him. Noah Mahjongg, the wandering traveler, whom he thought Envy had killed, was still alive!

"Noah, you're alive?" Al posed it like a question.

Ed recognized the tall, dark haired teenager immediately from the picture Armstrong had shown him during their brief, but informative conversion. This was indeed Noah Mahjongg, Armstrong's nephew, but was it really him? He knew Envy had the ability to transfer his consciousness to other people, he proved that by taking control of Winry. So, was Envy in control of Noah?

Noah put a hand to his face and rubbed his eyes, he then looked at Al, and said, "Yeah, why wouldn't I, Alphonse Elric?"

"But I saw Envy kill you," Al said, as Noah approached them.

"Do you mean when he placed his hand on my face and I fell to the ground?" he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "That was a ploy, like a possum would outwit a predator. I wanted to fool him into thinking he'd killed me, so I played dead so he'd leave me alone. I can't believe it worked."

"Where is Envy now?" Al asked.

"That long hair guy in the skimpy clothes? I don't know. I think he ran into the tall grass after he dealt with me. When I opened my eyes, he was gone."

Ed was not convinced. He put his right arm across his brother's chest, in a protective gesture. "Al, don't believe him, we've been tricked by Envy's lies before," he said, his eyes narrowed, not believing him.

"What are you talking about, brother?" Al said. "This is Noah Mahjongg."

"Explain to us how you were able to evade Envy's 'death grip'?" Ed demanded from Noah.

"Death grip? What death grip?" Noah wondered. "When I saw him reaching for my face I instinctively put up a small energy barrier using Alchemy to protect me from anything he was about to do. It's been a protective technique used in our family for years, but only a few know it and use it. I'm sorry I had to deceive you, Al, but I am an Alchemist. I'm the nephew of a well-known and powerful State Alchemist."

"Alex Louis Armstrong," Al said plainly.

"That's right, but how did you know that?" Noah said confused, his brows raised.

"My brother recognized your name when I told him I thought Envy had killed you, and he told me about your family lineage," Al replied. Al produced a small curling smirk. "Then that would explain that bright flash I saw when Envy touched - or supposedly - touched your face. From my angle it looked like he had used some sort of hidden ability to cripple you." Al pushed Ed's arm down, he never asked for his protection. "I'm glad you're okay," he then said.

Noah's story sounded believable, but Ed was still not convinced. It whole thing sounded phony. But if Envy didn't jump bodies, and wasn't in control of Noah Mahjongg, then where was he? "Do you know where Envy went?" Ed asked.

Noah looked at him. "Like I said, I only heard him escape, I didn't actually see where he had gone," he explained. "But I'd imagine he'd be after Alphonse, seeing how he was chasing him before. Who is this Envy guy, anyway?"

"It's a long story," Ed said. "We'll tell you later after we capture him."

"I can help you, but I'll need a few things in my pack," Noah said. "C'mon, I'll show you two of the coolest weapons in an Alchemist's arsenal."

Noah turned and started walking back from which he had come, along the trail, and the boys followed.

"What's in your pack?" Al asked, as he followed him.

"Powerful Alchemist tools," Noah stated proudly.

When they reached his tan brown colored backpack, which was laying in wet mud on the trail, Noah began to rummaged through it and brought out two metallic fingerless gloves with spikes on each knuckle.

Ed and Al had seen them before.

"My uncle has a pair, their a tradition in our family," Noah said. "They enhance our Alchemic powers to an unprecedented state, to an end where no one can defend against the user's power." He put them on and showed the boys his hands. "Aint them cool? I've never used them in actual combat though."

Ed didn't like how things were progressing and readied his automail arm for an attack. If Envy was controlling Noah's body and was playing with them, now would be his opportunity to show himself. But strangely, no attack came.

Noah noticed Ed's tense expression and his automail hand closed tightly into a fist and lowered his hands to his sides. Though he didn't say anything. He then turned to Al and said, "Well then, let's go find this Envy character, shall we?" Noah picked up his pack and slung it over a shoulder.

Al nodded with a smile, and Ed reluctantly agreed, still unsure of Noah.

They trekked off back down the trail and took a fork in the road in search of Envy's whereabouts. But Ed stayed a short distance behind them. There was something about Noah that didn't sit right with him. But he told himself that maybe he was just being paranoid and Noah Mahjongg was who he said he was. If Envy did control him, he wouldn't attacked them by now. He considered Envy wasn't the sort of person with a lot of patience.

But, what he worried about? Envy couldn't use Alchemy. He had his morphing ability, and in the body of a human who had the knowledge of a particular Alchemy skill, that's all he could use. Without a genuine soul, no Homunculi could use any Alchemy in any fashion.

But, he wasn't going to lower his guard down just yet. He wasn't totally convinced, and he knew enough to never take anything at face value, especially after everything he and Al had been through in the last eight years.

"So you're saying this Envy is an artificial human?" Noah said, and expressed his shock, after Al had told him that Envy was a Homunculi. Al nodded. "But how is something like, well him, created in the first place?"

"It takes the desire of a single individual to give birth to a creature like that, and anyone can do it," Ed chimed in. "And just because we defeated the seven we encountered, doesn't mean there aren't more or won't be more to come."

"Brother, don't be so negative," Al said, finally wiping the rest of the blood off his face with a handkerchief he found in his jacket pocket. "I have to apologize for Ed's attitude. He can be a cynic person at times."

"I am not!" Ed rebuked loudly. "I'm just stating a very strong possibility."

"Well, next time you get one of your negative thoughts, keep it to yourself, brother," Al said unkindly.

Ed was utterly dumbfounded that Al would say something like that to him. It sounded so nasty with a hint of hatred. Why was Al angry at him? But before he could rebut, Noah said, "So, what's with the sword?" he asked Al.

Al looked at his father's sword and then raised it so Noah could see it. It looked like a dingy old sword, but it had more than sentimental value to it. "It was my father's sword, and its supposedly to be endowed with special Alchemic powers, or so father said," Al said. "It's also supposed to be Envy's ultimate weakness. Our father was the one who created Envy."

Noah's face appeared he had just has an epiphany. "So that's why he got a little defensive and called you his brother before attacking me, now it starts to make a sense," Noah said. "Does Envy consider himself your brother because he was born from your father's envious nature?"

"Um, not quite," Al said. He then started to explain. "Our father was also a type of Homunculi. We didn't know it until he explained it to us and told us he was over 400 years old. He was able to transfer his consciousness from one body to another, just like Envy. But eventually he couldn't do it anymore and his body started to degenerate because of it. That's why he left our mother; he didn't have the heart to tell her what he really was."

"And do you hate your father for what he did?" Noah said.

"No. My brother did for the longest time, but I was too young to understand. Later when I came to understand his reasons for leaving us, I still couldn't hate him. I'm still not clear on my brother's feelings, however. I think he still harbors a little hatred towards him."

"No, I don't, Al," Ed said.

"And why is that, Ed?" Noah asked.

"Because I came to grips with his reasons for leaving us, and there are some other things involved in our brief relationship that I can't go into right now."

"My father was a strong liner and was hard on discipline," Noah said. "He wanted me to grow up strong, and for some reason kept on making me drink milk." Noah chuckled. "He said it would help me grow tall and fortify my bones."

Ed made a gagging sound and stuck his tongue out when he heard milk.

"What's wrong with milk?"

Al smirked thin. "Ed hates milk, but I like it," he said.

"You would," Ed said. "Do you know where milk comes from? A cow's utter. I don't want anything coming outta that gonna in me. And it tastes awful."

"You do know milk is pasteurized, right?" Noah said. "Raw milk has a jelly in it that's separated before it's prepared for human consumption. Raw milk won't hurt you if you drink it, but it doesn't have the greatest taste. I'm guessing as a kid, you lived in a small rural town where cow's milk wasn't pasteurized."

"We were born and raised right here in Resembool, but even where pasteurization exists, I wouldn't touch the stuff. Milk is disgusting!"

"So you hate milk? That's kinda funny if you think about it, whereas almost every other child on the planet loves it." Noah said. "I can understand why-"

"Why what? Why I'm shorter than my brother?" he said frowning.

"That's not what I was going to say."

"Don't pout, brother, I'm only an inch taller than you," Al said. "Besides, it's a proven fact that people grow and shrink all the time throughout their life. You're only nineteen, there's plenty of time for you to grow some more."

"Don't patronize me, Al," Ed said snooty.

"Fine, be miserable, see if I care," Al said snorting angry, and then walked a little ahead, to get away from his brother.

Ed was confused as to why Al was acting this way, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. This was the second time Al was rude to him in front of Noah and there was no reason for it.

"Al, tell me what's wrong? Why are you angry with me?" Ed asked.

But Al ignored him.

_**To be continued...  
** _


	21. Chapter 21

Noah expressed a confused look. This was no time for the two of them to be at each other's throats. He had to find out what was wrong and try to resolve it. He never considered himself a man who settled disputes, but he thought he oughta try this time. With Envy out there, he couldn't have the brother's feuding while their friend needed their help.

He ran ahead and caught up to Al, and said, "Is something wrong? Did you two have a fight or something?"

"No," Al said, a little angry. "It's just sometimes, well, Ed can be pedantic and overbearing at times. He's so over-protective of me that it's annoying. I can handle myself and I don't need his help. I'm a State Alchemist."

"He's just looking out for his younger brother, Al," Noah said.

"Yeah, I know. But I don't need his pissy attitude right now. We've been through a lot together, but I thought these last two years being separated would've cooled him off a little."

"What happened these last two years?"

"He was in one place and I was here," Al said.

"Can you be more specific?"

"Not exactly, it's very difficult to explain."

"Would it have anything to do with the Gate?"

Al halted in his tracks and looked at him wide-eyed, then he took a step back. "How do you know about the Gate?" he said nervously. He instinctively squeezed the handle of the sword, thinking that Ed might have been right and Envy was hiding out in Noah's body. How would Noah know about the Gate? Envy would.

Ed caught up to them.

"What's the matter, did I say something wrong?" he said.

"How do you know about the Gate?" Al demanded this time.

"The Gate!" Ed said alarmed, overhearing Al's question. "He knows about the gate?" Ed raised his automail blade. "There's no way you'd know about the Gate. Only those who've been through a traumatic experience involving the Philosopher Stone would be aware of its existence. Unless you're not who you claim to be."

Noah put up his hands quickly, palms outward, as if surrendering. "Whoa, you guys, take it easy," he said. "I didn't know it was that sensitive of a subject. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"Answer my brother's question," Ed sounded insistent. "How do you know about the Gate?"

"I've seen it, in a dream," Noah started to explain. "It's a big black stone door with skeletons on the front and it leads to another world, right? I think it leads to another world like ours or perhaps a level of Purgatory." He shrugged his shoulders. "But I'm only guessing."

"Definitely not Purgatory," Ed said.

"How do you know?" Noah said.

"Because I've gone through, in fact; a couple of times, and returned."

"Where did you go?"

Ed squinted his eyes at him, as if dissatisfied with Noah's explanation. "First thing's first, tell me how you came to see the Gate?" he said. "It just wouldn't appear to you in a dream. I think you're lying."

Noah nodded. "Okay, you deserve the truth," he said. "When I turned ten, I had a bout with death and became deathly ill, and it appeared to me in a dream when I was feverish. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was something special. When I got well I did some research on it, but turned up nothing. It appeared no one had ever heard of it or didn't want to talk about it. I tried to get into the library at Central, but they wouldn't allow me because it was only reserved for State Alchemists. I confided in my uncle about the dream, but he didn't believe me and laughed. But he did try to convince me to take the State Alchemist exam. I told him no, because I didn't want to get bogged down and become a dog of the state. I like doing things my way."

"Similar minds think alike, eh Edward," Al remarked.

Al replied to his brother's sny remark with a nod.

"That's how I felt, but I literally had no choice if Al and I were to ever get out true bodies back," Ed said. "But forgive me, continue."

"I left home to try to find some clue to its existence. Unfortunately, I was starting to feel that I imagined the whole thing until I came to this remote village and met you guys. Now I know it's truly real if other's have seen it."

"If I were you, I'd forget about it and go home," Ed said plainly. "It'll only cause you heartache."

Al nodded. "I agree," he said. "Don't pursue it, you'll only regret what you find."

"But you two have seen it, so my journey wasn't a waste. Tell me more about it, please. I have to know. And how can I see it again?"

"You can't, it's gone," Ed said.

"Sealed tight," Al said.

"But how?"

"In order to save our lives we had no choice but to close it forever," Al said. "And the key to opening the gate is gone forever. It was called the Philosopher Stone."

"I found information on the Philosopher's Stone, but it's only supposed to be a legend."

"Oh, it was real alright," Ed said. "And we found it. . ."

"And used it," Al finished. "The Philosopher Stone and I were bonded as one at one point," Al continued. "But that's all water under the bridge. The point of the matter is, it's gone forever and its never coming back. Not if we have a say in the matter."

"Why is that?" Noah inquired.

"Because it took human lives to make it work," Al told him.

Ed cleared his throat. "Al, I think that's enough information," he said.

Al nodded. "Agreed, the rest just gets gruesome," he said.

"So the Gate is sealed and the key is gone forever?" Noah sighed, and frowned. "So my journey was a waste after all."

Ed produced a smile. "Don't think of your backpacking across the country as a waste, think of it as a learning experience," he said. "You may never be able to see the Gate, but that doesn't mean it never existed. We're proof if that."

"Ed's right, and now you can go back home and make up for lost time with your family," Al said smiling. "I hear that your uncle really misses you."

"I've been away from my family for a very long time, maybe it is time I go back home and see them again." Noah nodded. "But first, let's deal with this Envy guy. If he's half the guy you say he is, you're gonna need me."

"I think we can handle him by ourselves, but thanks for the offer," Ed said cocky. "He's holding our friend hostage inside her own body and we haven't found a way to get him out yet."

"What does he want?" Noah asked.

"Me," Al bluntly said. "He thinks I have the Philosopher Stone embedded in my body somewhere, but he's only deluded. I don't have it."

"Maybe you don't know you have it?" Noah suggested.

"That's crazy, I'd know if I had it," Al remarked.

"Maybe Envy knows something you don't?"

Al was thoughtful for a moment, and then looked at Ed strangely. "What if Noah's right?" he said. "Envy did read both our minds when we were in the Mind Meld, and maybe he discovered something deep in my subconscious that's hidden from even me?"

"Don't start questioning yourself, Al," Ed said. "You don't have the Philosopher Stone, there's no way you can. It was destroyed when we were transmuted back to your body."

"But what if a portion still remains inside me like Envy says?"

Ed put up his hands in a halting fashion and then huffed frustrated. "Al, what Envy thinks is idiotic, and besides, he'd need the entire Philosopher Stone to do anything. Anything less would be useless."

Al shook his head. "That's not true, Ed," he said. "We've seen a partial Philosopher Stone made in liquid form and then refined into a working stone. What if the Philosopher Stone's power still resides in me in some fashion, but that renders it inert, and like blood that flows through a human body, the essence of the stone has become a permanent part of me. I'm the only one to ever become a Philosopher Stone and live to tell about it."

"I'm telling you, Al, Envy's messing with your mind," Ed said.

"But what Noah suggests could have a ring of truth to it, and maybe I have the Philosopher Stone and don't know it. If I do, how do I use it?"

"You're being stupid, Al!" Ed barked out.

"And you're being close-minded!" Al shouted back.

They both snarled at each other like angry wild animals.

"Hey, hey, cool it, you two," Noah said, getting between them. "This is no time to fight amongst ourselves. There's a killer on the loose and he's stolen your friend's body. Now, what's more important, settling this dispute, or finding Envy and saving your friend? I'm sorry I opened my mouth on this issue."

Al nodded. He said, "You're right, Noah, finding Envy and saving Winry is more important that proving my brother is an small-minded idiot."

Ed growled at him and grabbed Al's jacket in anger with his automail hand, and in his haste, ripped the collar.

Al slapped his brother's hand away and looked at his jacket. Actually, it originally belonged to his brother. But after he abandoned it, it became his. Al looked at the damage to his jacket and became very angry. He gritted his teeth and then back looked at Ed and cursed at him. "You bastard! Sometimes I wish I'd never find you, brother," he said through clenched teeth. "You were better off in the other world. You're nothing but a nuisance."

Ed's mouth dropped agape in shock. "Al, you don't mean that," he said.

"You damn right I do!" he said, raising a closed fist to further express his anger. "And after we find Envy and dispel him from Winry's body, you and I are going our separate ways. I don't need you anymore. I'll move to Central and be closer to command headquarters. You're too damn cynical, Edward, and I don't need that in my life right now. I'm still trying piece my life back together. Maybe it's better off that you're not in it. I've done pretty damn good without you these last two years."

Ed took a step back, his mind in total shock and disbelief. Something was wrong, Al never acted like this. "Al, I know you don't mean that," he said. "I think you need a time out."

Al snorted with a smirk. "Like mother told us when we were kids after we fought? C'mon, who do you take me for! You may be older than me, but you've never been a match for me, and you know it. I beat you every time, and I can still beat you."

"You wanna take me on, Al, after everything we've been through, are you sure?"

"That's enough guys, cool it!" Noah said it like an order, but it was he wasn't there, they didn't listen. They were so focused on hating each other, that it was like the rest of the world didn't exist.

"Noah, I think you'd better move back - we need to settle something," Ed said.

"But Envy, and your friend-"

"I'm aching to kick your ass, Ed," Al said. "First you transmute me into that metal monstrosity and then when I finally get my body back, you leave me. Some brother you turned out to be."

"I thought you'd forgiven me for what happened eight years ago, but apparently you lied to me," Ed said, rubbing his automail arm, preparing for a fight. "I don't know what's gotten into you, Al, but looks like you do harbor some hate towards for what I did to you. But I am still your older brother, and whether I have to beat it outta you or not, you will respect me."

"The hell I will!" Al shouted, and attacked Ed with the sword.

_To be continued... **  
**_


	22. Chapter 22

Al squeezed the handle of his sword firmly with both hands and brought it to bare for an attack against his brother. Suddenly, he clenched his arm muscles tight and began to sweat nervously, afraid, resisting the urge to attack. He didn't want to. But the multitude of voices he heard, whispering to him inside his mind, demanded that he attack Edward. _Kill him._ They said.

He couldn't move. It was like some great force had frozen him to the spot like ice. The voices in his mind wanted him to attack, but he didn't oblige. The voices were saying all sorts of ghastly things to him and were showing him horrific images to provoke a deep emotional response. And it was working. He began to shake apprehensively and they continued with their evil sayings. He tried to resist, but they delivered a mild electrical shock to his very soul. He cringed in pain, but only on the inside. His face didn't show it.

_Obey us, or we will devour your soul._ They said.

He looked at the blade of the sword and saw his reflection in the metal. Despite the blade was rustic and weathered, as it was left to the elements for over ten years, he was able to see his face as clear as if looking in a mirror. But he theorized that that may be because the voices wanted him to. They were controlling his mind and therefore what they wanted him to see, too.

_The sword. . .the voices are coming from the sword!_ Al's instincts told him, and a feeling of gloom and doom came over him.

The urge to attack his brother was so overwhelming that he had to obey. He felt powerless to resist the voices' demands.

Looking at his brother, his eyes filled with an implanted hate, he attacked Edward, advancing swiftly and concisely.

Ed blocked with his automail as Al came at him with a downward strike. The noise from the blades hitting against one other was deafening. Al pushed forward with his sword, but was unable to overcome his brother. He pulled back and then attacked again. This time coming at Edward with his sword down. He sliced upwards in an uppercut motion. Ed dodged the attack, but just barely. The sword came within an inch of his face.

"Al! Stop it!" Ed cried out, behind intense, hurtful eyes. Something had possessed his brother; he knew the symptoms. And Envy was most likely the culprit.

"Shut-up!" Al barked back. "I might not be able to use the special abilities this sword holds, but I can damn well use it in its conventional sense!"

He struck high this time, but Ed quickly blocked. However the recoil from the attack was very intense and Ed's knees buckled slightly. Mustering the strength, Ed pushed back and Al staggered backwards.

Attacking again, Al missed his brother, slicing downwards, and got the sword stuck in the mud. He yanked at it and quickly pulled it out, shaking the wet mud off the blade. He readied for his next attack.

"Fight it, Al! I know this isn't you! Don't let that bastard win!" Ed shouted out angry.

"I don't know what you're taking about, dear brother," Al said maliciously smirking. "My actions are of my own accord, I'm not being controlled."

"That's not true and I know it," Ed rebuked back. "Listen to me: Power is given, control is taken. Take back control, Al. You're being controlled." He sneered and then shouted out: "Envy, stop this now! I know you're there. C'mon outta hiding you perverse, malevolent bastard!"

There was a soft trenchant, audible chuckle from the trees nearby. Then Envy jumped down from some foliage and landed like an alley cat. He rose to his feet god-like and smiled like a tyrannical dictator. "Why should I?" he said wickedly. "I'm having too much fun." He put his hands on his hips in a casual manner and then said, "You don't get it, do you, Edward? I never lost control. We may be outside your mind, but my control never stopped."

But there was something in Envy's expression that looked unnerving, his eyes told a different story.

In the other world, there was a game people played called Poker for entertainment and money. As Ed had been trapped in that alternate world for two years, he got to know the game very well and played it on numerous occasions to earn some money to pay for parts for his arm and for the rocket he was building. It turned out that he was good at the game. But luck and skill had very little to do with the game of cards. He was able to count the cards in every hand and determine the ratio/average each card would turn up. So, by using this card counting method, he knew who had what and what was in the pile yet to be played. The other players tried to bluff their way into winning pots, but it didn't work. Their eyes told him their true intentions.

Envy had this same look. His expression was that of a smug, arrogant player, who had nothing. His eyes told him he was hiding something - an untruthfulness, that he was "bluffing". But what was he hiding?

"Attack him, Al! Strike without mercy!" Envy ordered.

Al obeyed and attacked Edward aggressively, showing just how good a swordsman's he was, even after all these years. Ed followed his strikes and blocked every one, then jumped back and away after a very close strike.

"My, my, my, how hell quickens the spirits to flee, huh Edward?" Envy said. "Afraid to attack your little brother? Don't be. He's not towards you. But he careful, if you kill Al this time, he'll really be dead. This isn't your mind. Death is final here."

"I'm going to kill you, Envy," Ed threatened angry.

"Not if Al kills you first," Envy retorted. "The rage I implanted in his mind is intensifying his true emotions he harbors towards you. Eight years ago, you performed forbidden Alchemy that bonded his soul to that suit of armor-"

"But he said he didn't hate me," Ed said fuddled. He looked at Al woeful and in disbelief. "Al said he could never hate me."

"Everyone lies, Edward, especially when they're protecting family," Envy said.

Ed's eyes flickered troubled. "Is it true, Al? Do you really hate me for what I did to you?" He asked the question hesitantly.

Al looked at Ed with an intense fury, like a man who kept a deep hatred in his heart bound for thousands of years, wanting to be unleashed. "Yes, dear brother, I hate you, and I feel better for doing so," he said contemptuously. "I feel that a heavy weight has been lifted from my shoulders unleashing my true feelings about this. You stole my life when you bonded me to that armor and I'll never forgive you. I hate you, so much!"

Ed gasped in total disbelief, looking like someone had just reached into his chest and pulled out his battered glass heart and shattered it on the ground into thousands of tiny pieces. But he knew this was Envy's doing and he quickly gave Envy a look of complete and utter hate.

Envy met Ed's gaze and frowned his brow slightly, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't look at me, Edward, this is who your brother really is. I merely enhanced feelings that were already there," he said, sounding a little unsure. He could sense something wasn't right. He was starting to lose control of Al. There was another presence at play here.

Al gripped his sword tightly again, and attacked his brother. "Pay attention, Edward!" he snapped out. "I won't be denied my revenge!"

Edward quickly blocked. He stepped back to get some distance from Al, unfortunately his right heal hit an uprooted branch sticking out of the ground and he fell back and landed on his rear. Exposed, Al attacked again, and this time, Ed was at his brother's mercy. Only a miracle would save him now.

_To be continued...  
_


	23. Chapter 23

"My son. Why!"

Hohenheim's voice echoed inside Envy's ears, and his thoughts betrayed him. As the battle between Edward and Alphonse Elric was coming to a brutal climax, the circumstances of their battle brought old memories to bare, and he started to recollect a profound episode in his life: The day he died.

Hohenheim loved him as if Envy was his flesh and blood, and not an orphan.

Envy was a shy, little boy, living on the streets, orphaned when his parents died from preventable diseases, but as his family had no money to pay for medicine, they died, leaving him homeless and hungry.

But Hohenheim found him, adopted him; raised him, educated him, and gave him guidance and the confidence he needed to tame his world with Alchemy. And he was happy. He lived in a village where everyone knew who he was and welcomed him with open arms.

When he was seventeen, he applied to be a State Alchemist, and passed all the tests with ease. The Fuher at the time recognized his talents and assigned him to his first mission. He was elated to undertake the task given to him, and excited to start his new life and career as a certified State Alchemist.

But on his first mission, things went terribly wrong, and he accidentally killed an innocent child.

He was assigned to investigate an illegal gambling ring in the far northern Town of Cala. Instead, he found himself in the midst of a civil war between two fractions desiring power, and the residing Government begged for his help to resolve the situation.

At first, he refused to get involved because he was ordered not to interfere with the natural order of the town. But after nearly dying, after a rogue missile demolished the hotel he was staying in, one night, burying him under a heavy weight of rubble - using his Alchemy to escape - he offered his services to finally put an end to the civil war.

It was only after what he had done, did he regret his decision to get involved.

That night, angry and without fear for his life, he walked out into the battlefield, on the front lines - an energy force barrier erected by his Alchemy protecting him - he generated an outcrop of powerful Alchemic energy, and sent it pulsing in every direction, like a ripple through Time. In less than a minute: every tank, every gunnery, every weapon, was summarily silenced, after a horde of explosions. He then oversaw to the complete destruction of the remaining forces to both armies.

When he returned back to the town, he thought he would be congratulated. Instead, he found a crowd of people surrounding a small house on the edge of the front lines. He entered and was shocked to learn that a young boy had been killed when a piece of flying debris sliced through his home and killed him while he played with a toy train.

The townspeople blamed him, but he could not have known his actions would cause this result. He had tried to help them, but instead they banished him from the town, forever.

When he returned to Central City, he stood before the Fuher and explained his actions. The Fuher had read his report and understood his involvement in the civil war. But because of the severe nature of what he had done, he was suspended and them stripped of his State Alchemist certification. He protested, but his words fell on deaf ears. The local newspaper called him a murderer and he was run out of the city, after word of what had happened got to the public. They called him Retluous, which was Ishabalan for Soulless Monster. Because they felt he had killed the boy without mercy, and only people without souls killed like that.

Several months later, he returned, after perfecting an Alchemy technique so devastating that no one could stop him, and staged a one-man coup d'tetat against the Alchemy Academy in Central City, slaughtering several State Alchemists in his wake. He wanted revenge for what the academy had done to him, and went on a rampage. There was no end to his violence and destruction, and he loved it!

But when there seemed no end to his butchery, one man stepped up to face him, and that was his adopted father, Hohenheim. And he held an ancient Samurai sword, for which Hohenheim had carried around with him everywhere. It was passed down to him by a great swordsman who instructed Hohenheim in its usage. And it apparently had a very special ability, though Hohenheim never told Envy what that was.

Hohenheim looked very different from his present appearance. He was a younger looking man, but his hair was still blonde.

"My son. Why!" Hohenheim said. "Why do you do this?"

When he saw his father blocking his way on the front steps to the Academy, he gritted his teeth in disgust. "Because, Father, they cast me aside, like the orphan that I am, for a crime that was not my doing," he said, bellowing a deep hatred towards him. "They ran me out of town, and you said nothing! You disowned me. Why? And why do you stand in my way now? "

"I had no choice, my influence on the matter was limited," Hohenheim said. "But I knew you would return someday, stronger than when you left. Only, I never conceived of this. No son of mine would act discordantly in such a manner," he then said. "I raised you, I taught you the value of right and wrong, and now, this is the way you repay my kindness and generosity?"

The anger began to swell inside Envy until he could no longer contain it. Wearing a pair of white gloves, with the Transmutation symbol etched into the palm of each one - which his own idea, so he wouldn't have to drawn a circle all the time - he brought his hands in front of him and clenched his fists tightly, bringing his elbows inward. Then he formed an ancient Alchemy symbol with his hands. He brought his thumbs, forefinger and Index fingers together, curling his other fingers inward, making a symbol much like a church steeple or a chapel. Then he brought his hands to his chest, and over his heart. Hohenheim recognized the symbol immediately as forbidden Alchemy.

"Tonight I will bring a new era, Father, a new dawn where everyone who wishes it will be able to practice Alchemy freely and without restraint, instead of being slaves to the State and their bias laws," Envy said. "I will destroy the Academy and therefore annihilate their hold on the people."

"The State doesn't regulate the use of Alchemy," Hohenheim said. "The purpose of the State Alchemists is to protect its citizens from its misuse. Alchemy is the right of everyone and it's a responsibility. Laws are enforced to keep order, without order chaos would reign, and the world would be a very dangerous place."

"But the world is already a dangerous place! At least with Alchemy, people have a fighting chance!"

Hohenheim shook his head, disappointed. "I can't allow you to evoke forbidden Alchemy, son," he said. "If you insist on taking this path of destruction, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to destroy you!"

"You're buffing," Envy said, smirking thin, his blonde hair waving in the wind. "And what can you do with that sword against my powerful Alchemy?"

Suddenly, thunder rumbled in the sky, and Envy looked up quickly, and saw that dark clouds were beginning to mass together in a very suspicious and uncharacteristic matter, on an otherwise clear day, swirling around as if someone was controlling them. He had heard Alchemy could govern the weather, but it would take a master Alchemist to do something like that. And yet, Hohenheim was such a man.

But how was he doing it? He wasn't using Alchemy, he had no Transmutation Circle to work off of. The only thing he had was that sword. But then he looked around and saw the Academy was outlined with a giant Transmutation circle, and Envy was standing inside it. He tried to step outside the circle, but an invisible barrier was keeping him inside. He used his own Alchemy to try to crack the barrier, but without success. He looked again at the mass of clouds above his head and saw that a vortex had formed.

"Father. . .no!" he shouted out, but his plea fell on deaf ears once again, and the vortex dropped and the clouds engulfed him, encompassing his entire body, spinning rapidly around him. He panicked and screamed in awful agony, his voice shrieking like someone who was being murdered, and the dark clouds slowly folded in and started to crush him like a vice grip around a piece of metal. It was then his body vanished inside the vortex. But, much to his trepidation, his consciousness - his soul - still remained, residing inside it.

The vortex was then sucked into the blade of Hohenhelm's sword, and Envy was gone, his human soul trapped inside it.

Envy blinked, returning to the present.

It was a fleeting memory, something he thought he had forgotten, but the fight between Ed and Al brought it back from the depthless void of his subconscious.

When he was resurrected as a Homunculi, a creature without a soul, through the disillusioned and envious ideal of his father to be normal, something other than the body snatcher that he was, jumping from person to person, transferring his consciousness from one mind to another, stealing that person's identity - that resounding memory of his death - his soul trapped in the sword, that the son of Hohenheim now wielded, Alphonse Elric - was recollected. He still didn't understand how, but he theorized, as he was a part of Hohenheim's past - Hohenheim's desires, hopes, and dreams, and even his thoughts, were transferred over to him when he was conceived, like memory ingrams of the Human consciousness.

But the past was ancient history.

And yet, he still harbored the deep hatred, and feelings of abandonment and betrayal, towards Hohenheim, he felt on that day. They were burned into his consciousness like a memory.

He had a second chance at life. Well, actually, a third chance. And he wasn't going to blow it. After he killed the sons of Hohenheim, he'd return and finish what he started, and destroy the State Academy in Central City. After, however, he retrieved his soul from Hohenheim's sword.

Everything was coming together as he had planned, and a sinister smile crept onto Envy's face.

"Time to die now, Edward," he said.

And he saw Edward trip backwards and fall to the ground as he moved away from Alphonse, fully exposing himself to an attack from his brother. And Alphonse obliged, wasting no time, striking hard and fast with his father's sword.

_To be continued..._ **_  
_ **


	24. Chapter 24

He stared into the dark void that surrounded him, and he thought he was alone. But suddenly he could feel the presence of others all around him. He felt overwhelmed, watched. There were hundreds of them, multiple minds, and their combined collective strength was keeping him here.

He felt torn, with only a tether of remembrance tacking him to his consciousness. But lucky, his subconscious, his personal worth and identity was still in tact. The spirits had somehow ripped his soul from his body and trapped it in this dark place. But he had been here once before: Envy had brought him here, just before he was cast into a circle of flame. He hoped whatever had done this to him was not going to repeat that painful experience.

"Who are you?" Al shouted out into the emptiness, but he got no reply. Suddenly he started to hear the soft echoing of many people laughing. But not your run-of-the-mill, I-heard-something-funny, normal laugh, but a malicious, torpid, you're-trapped laugh, and it was coming from all around him.

He turned 360 degrees, following the sound, but as he couldn't see anything, he couldn't identify the identity of the laughter. But there were hundreds of laughs, overlapping each other, so-loud and frightening, that he put his hands to his ears to try to muzzle the sound. His Mother had told him when he was a child that there isn't anything in the dark that isn't in the light, but then why did he feel afraid?

The sound of the laughter began to die down and he was able to take his hands from his ears, hearing only one laugh now, and it seemed to be coming from everywhere. But he could tell it was one laugh from one person. The laughter stopped for a moment and a voice said, "I'm over here. No, I'm not, I'm over here. Here I am. No, I'm not. Here I am."

Al looked for the voice, but every time he thought he found its origin, it changed, and came from another direction - beside him, behind him, above him, below him. Then he stopped trying to follow it.

"Stop playing this game," he finally said. "Who are you?"

Suddenly a blinding light erupted in front of him and he shed his eyes with his left arm, but still tried to look over it to see what was materializing. Before him, stood a being of light, or rather a being illuminated in a candescent, white hot glow, looking like some sort of angelic creature. "What are you, and what do you want with me?" he demanded. The light dimmed and Al's eyes opened wide, shocked, to see Mae Hughes standing before him.

"Alphonse, listen very carefully," the voice of Maes Hughes said. "I've temporarily created a static time bubble inside your mind so the spirits who have trapped you here won't hear us talk. You're in terrible danger, you must regain control of your body or your brother will die!"

Al lowered his arm from in front of his face and looked at Brigadier General Hughes. He was wearing a white suit. The last time he saw him he was wearing the same thing, but he wasn't glowing. Was that what happened when you die, you glow? But that was something to think about for another time. "What do you mean?" Al asked.

"Right now, in the real world, outside your mind, the spirits of the sword, have control of your body, and they're about to kill Edward," Maes said.

"Where am I?" Al said confused.

"We're inside your mind. The spirits, working as a collective, with a single goal, ripped your soul from your physical body and sent your subconscious deep into the recesses of somewhere here, to this void. This void is inside everyone. It's an empty place where old ideas go to die, to fade into nothingness. Experiences forgotten come here to disappear. But nothing truly dies. The soul stores everything and what it does not need it brings here, to this place. Humans only use a fraction of their potential and intelligence, the rest is empty space."

Al shook his head and looked befuddled, so Maes went on to explain it more. "Think of the soul as the mainframe of a machine or computer, whatever memory or data is deleted, it continues to store until the space it takes up is used, like a brain. So, if the space is not used, the data is retrievable and accessible, if you know where to look for it."

"So, what you're saying is, I'm old, unnecessary data, sent away to be deleted?"

"Yes, and if you don't find a way out of here, you'll be permanently deleted by the spirits."

"But I don't even know how I got here. How do I escape?"

"Hohenheim's sword is a gateway to another realm of existence," Maes went on to explain. "Through Alchemy, he cast a forbidden spell on it to trap evil spirits inside its walls. One of them is the person you know as Envy. Your father trapped his soul inside the sword because he was about to unleash the Dark Arts of Alchemy onto the world, and if that had happened, the whole world would be cast into an unending chaos. If you don't escape from here and stop these spirits, and Envy, the true power behind these spirits, that will become a reality."

"Envy's soul did this do me? Does he really have that much power?"

"Emotions like hate can personify power a thousand fold, and with unbridled hate festering for nearly a century, Envy could very much have the power he needs to unleash the Dark Arts upon the world. And with a real body and a soul, he will be able to perform Alchemy."

"I read about the Darks Arts when I was studying to take my Enrollment exam into the Alchemy Academy in Central. It wasn't part of the curriculum, but I managed to find some literature on it while looking around the library late one night. I was really looking for a book that had gone missing, been misplaced, but I found something else instead, and was totally engrossed with its contents. It told his story. He was a pupil of my father's, and his adopted son, but he was thrown out of the Academy for killing a little boy on his first mission."

"He committed no crime, but he was made out to be a criminal. He was merely a scapegoat for poor intelligence given to him while he tried to settle a dispute in the town of Cala. The very first town you were sent to on your first mission. Weapons fire destroyed a house killing a boy inside. He had no way of knowing how his actions to stop the war would turn out. The townspeople blamed him and demanded justice. The Furor had no choice but to expel him."

"So all his misplaced anger, everything he's done up to this point, everyone he's killed, all the lives that have been discombobulated because of his interference, is a result of a misunderstanding, and a beaconing thirst for revenge against his accuser: the Military."

Maes nodded. "But from what you say, and what I read in the book, we can't allow Envy to unleash the Dark Arts," Al then said. "It all makes sense now. That's why he wants my body. With the Philosopher's Stone, his power would be invincible. No one would be able to stand against him. But I don't have the Philosopher's Stone. Why does he want me?"

"As I said before, Alphonse, nothing dies completely. A portion of the Philosopher Stone still resides inside you. It may only be a minuscule, tiny fraction, but it's enough to Envy for his plan to work. Not everything of value can be touched. Memories of objects are just as significant, and can be equally as powerful. Ideas are more precious that tangible goods. With an idea, whole cities have been built and an ideal of life created. Human life can't exist without ideas and through the channel of ideas, life continues on throughout the ages."

"I think I understand," Al said.

"Do you really?"

"Yes, just the memory of the Philosopher Stone can be used as a powerful tool. If he somehow manages to tap into my memories of the Philosopher Stone and the power I believe it has, he can use what portion that's left inside my body to forward his horrible plan into motion. Edward told me that I was once the Philosopher Stone. Whether I believe him or not, it once existed through what I've learned in books and from what he's told me. In either case, as long as the idea of the Philosopher Stone and what it can do exists, it exists."

"Good boy," Maes said, smiling proudly, like a fatherly figure. "You do understand."

"I must somehow stop him!"

"But you can't stop him alone, you need Edward's help," Maes said.

Al nodded, knowing he was right. "Good to see you again, Brigadier General Hughes," Al said, he smiled. "I wish you were still alive. I really miss you."

"How could you? Your memories were erased of those four years when your soul was bonded to that suit of armor."

Al smiled thin. "Like you said, the soul never erases everything. Through meditation, I managed to retrieve some memories of you and the emotions I felt when I was around you. I wasn't totally devoid of my humanity when my soul was trapped in that armor. Slowly, things are starting to come back, but not everything and I fear that some things never will."

"Give it time, Alphonse. Good things come to he who waits." Maes tilted his head slightly to the left as if he heard something, his eyes squinted curiously, and then he looked back at Al. "I have to go now, Al. My static bubble is weakening and Envy is wondering where you are."

"Come back and visit anytime, Brigadier General," Al said.

Maes smirked. "You know, that title really doesn't suit me. Call me Maes." He said. "Titles are for standing on ceremony, and with you, we are friends. First names are best suited. Bye Al, and good luck. Kick Envy's ass for me. Know that I'll always be with you boys."

"That's a confront to know."

And as quickly as Maes appeared, his glow blinked out in an instant and Al found himself back in the darkness.

"Where did you go, Alphonse?" the voice said.

"I know who you are. Show yourself." Al ordered.

The darkness lifted slightly and turned into a soft grayish hue, and a single glowing figure silhouetted by a dark shadow outline appeared in the distance. Al squinted his eyes to try to get a better look at the individual, but he couldn't get any details. "And who do you think I am?" the voice asked.

"Let's just say, a little bird told me," Al said.

"Has Brigadier General Hughes been interfering again?" the voice said. And Al was aghast that Envy knew about Maes Hughes. "Shocked Al? Don't be. I'm reading your mind. Everything you've ever experienced I know. And the conversion that you and Hughes had just now, I know it all. How do you think you're going to escape this place, Al? I'm in control of your body and you're trapped here, helpless to stop me from killing your brother."

"You don't have to do this, Envy," Al said. "Killing Ed won't prove anything."

"Maybe not, but it'll feel good."

"The military was wrong, they shouldn't have pinned that little boy's murder on you. You're not a criminal. But that didn't give you the right to attack the Academy and kill innocent people. My father shouldn't have done what he did, it was cruel. But he did what he thought was right, because you were about to destroy our way of life and he couldn't let you do that."

"Isn't it just like you, Alphonse Elric. While your brother and your father see fit to settle disputes with actions, your way is through diplomacy to cease any misunderstanding before it escalates into fighting. I have to give your credit, you've done your research. But you're not going to stop me, and your brother is going to die for all the trouble he's put me through."

"What if I offer you something in exchange for my brother's life?"

"And what could you possibly offer me?"

"An idea."

"An idea?"

"You need the Philosopher Stone for your sinister plan to work, so what if I give it to you in exchange for sparing Edward's life?"

There was a slight pause, a silent moment. Then Envy spoke. "You're offering me something I already have, Alphonse," he said, but his voice sounded a bit coy.

And Al picked up on it. "You don't have it or you wouldn't need me," Al said. "You may have me trapped in this place, but you're keeping me alive for a reason and that reason is you still need me. You need me to show you where the Philosopher Stone is, because you can't find it."

"Very perceptive of you. But you forget, I'm in control of your body and I can kill you brother in an instant. So tell me where the Philosopher Stone is, or he dies!"

"Kill him and you'll never find it, I'm willing to die to protect it."

"Noble, and yet…" There was another short pause, a silent moment. "Very well, I'll spare your brother, for the moment."

Suddenly there was a loud, menacing noise and the place shook violently, and Al lost his balance and tilted over, catching himself, landing on his hands and knees. He looked at Envy and saw that he had also fallen over, whatever it was catching him off guard. And his true appearance was at last revealed. He was a young looking man with blonde hair.

Envy looked at him and snarled in anger, but he wasn't reacting to anything Al had done. Instead, he was angry at what was happening in the real world. He never expected that that would happen. "Blast that Alchemist! I should've killed him when I had the chance!"

"What's going on?" Al said.

But he didn't get an answer, and Envy vanished.

_To be continued...  
_


	25. Chapter 25

The impact of the explosion was devastating… and effective!

Noah knelt on one knee, the spikes of his glove embedded into the ground, a large, deep crater, just inches from him, extending all the way to Ed and Al; the sky still showering down with bits of debris caused by the use of his Alchemy, though without the showmanship of his Uncle Alex Louis Armstrong. He used a simplistic method, a very basic skill to create just the right effect, to stop Alphonse Elric from killing his brother in cold blood. And it worked!

He stood on his feet and looked across the crater, looking at Edward, who stared back at him, sitting on the edge, his mouth agape with shock. Alphonse, however, wasn't so lucky. He had been subjected to the brunt of his attack and hung off the edge of the crater, clutching the side with his hands to keep from falling into the deep chasm. But with every movement he made, trying to climb over the edge to stable ground, there was greater risk of falling. Al tried to get a foot hold on a stone sticking out from the side of the crater, but it broke free and nearly fell. But at the last second, he grabbed onto the edge and held on.

"Al!" Edward cried, and ran over to help him, grabbing his right wrist with his automail hand.

"You insufferable Alchemist!" Envy snarled out, and leapt over the crater and pounced on Noah, pinning him to the ground. "Your interference will cost you your life!"

Envy morphed his arm into a long, black blade and raised it into striking position, however, before he got to make the kill, Al shouted at him, as Ed helped him to the surface. "Envy, stop it! We need him!"

Envy turned to Al in disbelief, and Edward gave him the same look. On his hands and knees, Al looked at Edward and smiled innately. Then he gave his brother a head butt to the face, knocking him over. Edward grabbed his face, cringed in pain, and felt the warm ooze of blood streaming down his face from his nose. It wasn't broken, but it hurt like Hell!

Al got to his feet, and smirked maliciously at Edward. "I'd like to thank you for saving my life, Edward Elric, and for that heroic feat, I won't kill you just yet," he said.

"Kill the pipsqueak, I'll kill this one!" Envy said, his blade at the ready to kill Noah.

"NO," Al commanded. "You will do what I say, Envy."

Envy growled with displeasure and jumped off Noah, taking a few steps back. But he kept an ever watchful eye on him just incase he again tried to pull another alike stunt.

Observing Envy obeying his order, he turned his attention back to Edward. "Who are you?" Ed asked. "You're not my brother. What did you do to him?" Ed scuttled away from Al and then got to his feet. "Give Al back his body!"

"You're not a State Alchemist anymore, you can't order me to do anything; on the other hand, if you ask me nicely, I may just acquiesce to your request," Al said. But he wan't Al.

Edward said, "Please return my brother to me."

"That was very touching and I really felt your heart calling out to me to release your brother's soul," he said. But then he started to chuckle, amused. "But I'm afraid I can't grant your request. Your brother's body now belongs to me, like Winry's body belongs to Envy, and soon the pearl of Amestris, the entire world, will also belong to me."

"Who are you?" Edward asked again.

Al gave a thoughtful glance towards Edward, and smiled crookedly, as if trying to formulate a delicate answer to an important question. But he knew what had to be said. He savored a dramatic moment, pausing to allow, if he could, for Edward to guess before he told him. The moment passed without Ed saying nothing, so he said, "You can call me brother."

"Brother? But Alphonse is the only brother I have and you're not him!"

"But I am your brother, just not the one you know about, or maybe you do," he said. "You want to know everything, don't you? You want to know about the sword, don't you?"

"What does the sword have to do with anything?"

"It's the reason why we're all here today," he said. "And, of course, Hohenheim."

"Where is Father!" Envy shouted a demand, his voice carried loudly over the crater. "I want to kill him!"

Ed started to put some of the pieces together and through his observation between Envy and this imposter pretending to be his brother, possessing his body, he gathered that who-or-whatever commanded Al's body was obviously in the leadership role. He looked at Envy and then at Al, gazed directly into his eyes, and said, snorting a smirk, "Sorry to be the barer of bad news, but my father is dead. He was killed by a creature of his own creation in another place, far from this one." The decision to embellish the truth was problematic. He didn't want to reveal any secrets about the other world, despite the Gate was sealed.

"You're being evasive, Edward, but I accept your answer. I know about Hohenheim."

Edward's eyes widened with confusion. "What!" he said.

"Al told me, he told me everything about what happened to you on the other side of the Gate, in that other world," he said. "When I learned of your adventure I was awestruck to know of another world that parallels this one. Quite fascinating, wouldn't you agree?"

"About what?"

"That you and Al exist in both worlds simultaneously. It was very clever of Al to utilize the dark matter brought through from the Gate that covered the ship to create Chimera's of both of you and him and transfer a permanent portion of your souls to them, while the two of you escaped the ship, just as your doubles went through unaware that they were copies of the originals. You managed to lock the gate in this world, but without Alchemy, I doubt the Gate is closed there. Both ends of the Gate must be sealed for it to be locked. You can't say for sure your doubles did that, can you?"

Ed swallowed nervous. "It doesn't matter," he started to say. "Without the Philosopher Stone or other tangible material-"

"Like human lives," the other said.

Ed sneered, then said, "Yes, like human lives - the Gate will remain closed."

"What if I told you, I have the Philosopher Stone."

"I'd say you were lying," Ed said. "The Philosopher Stone is gone."

"On the contrary, your brother has told me exactly where to find it."

"Al, no…" Ed said softly. "But he doesn't have it, Al knows it."

"He knows, and he knows where to find it."

Edward paused for a moment. ' _He knows, and he knows where to find it._ ' _Does that mean, you don't know where it is? But just a moment ago, you told me you knew exactly where to find it._ Then Ed had a thought. Perhaps he wants me to believe he knows, but Al hasn't told him. He was fishing for a clue where to find the stone. But there is no stone to find, or was there? Did Al know something he didn't? Obviously yes, or this imposter wouldn't be acting so smug.

"Tell me where Al is?" Edward said.

"He's safe, for now," the other said. "But he won't be unless I get what I want."

"And what is it that you want?"

"Freedom."

"Freedom from where?"

"I've been trapped in Hohenheim's sword for nearly 3 centuries and I want out," he said.

"I don't understand. And I bet there's a story to this."

"Quite right, Edward," the other said. "It started when my parents died and Hohenheim took me in as his heir. Unstained by war, he trained me in Alchemy and I joined the Academy in Central. After I was certified and given my first mission to the Western town of Cala, my orders were to inspect the mines, I unknowingly arrived in the midst of fighting between two warring fractions who wanted control over the town and its resources. The town wanted my help to conclude the war, but I was bound by duty not to get involved with such issues."

"Let me guess, you got involved anyhow," Edward said insipidly. "No matter now many times I told myself I'd never get involved in the private affairs of people, I always did."

"And so the nature of the human condition to interfere when we know we shouldn't is established," he said. "We're bound by our instincts and personal ethics to help those in need. However, with me, that was not the case. It was more out of revenge."

"Revenge? I never acted out of revenge!"

"Self-preservation is a form of revenge and we are all guilty of it." He continued. "After a bomb nearly killed me when it dropped on my hotel, I had no choice but to settle the war or the entire town would be destroyed. So I went to frontlines and using my Alchemy put an end to the war once and for all. However, little did I know that during my conquest a house was bombed with a rogue shell, killing a little boy."

It reminded Ed of the very first day he returned back to Artemtis from the Other World, when bombs showered down on Central City during on attack from Dietlinde Eckart, who wanted to destroy this world; a little child was killed then, too.

"Back at Central, there was a hearing and I was stripped of my State Alchemist certification. But I wasn't punished because I had done something wrong, I had done everything according to the charter. The townspeople wanted justice and threatened to cut off access to their mines if I wasn't punished, so the Fuhrer at the time gave in, and I was run out of town when the media got a hold of the story. But I came back one year later and I was going to make them pay for what they had done to me, with the Dark Arts as my weapon."

"But the Dark Arts is forbidden alchemy, and as taboo as…"

"What you attempted, trying to resurrect your dead Mother? Yes. The Dark Arts is as much taboo as that and more. Studying to become a State Alchemist, you must have come across the Dark Arts in your readings."

"Yes, I did. But I choose to ignore it. It's evil at its core."

"The good little Alchemist, always on the righteous path. How naïve of you." He said. "The Dark Arts is powerful and amplifies a person's Alchemy a hundred fold. And there is a price."

"Like the Philosopher Stone, it needs human energy to work," Edward said. He crossed his arms across his chest, looking annoyed. "So, you came back, swore revenge, and then want?"

The other narrowed his eyes annoyed too. Edward's tone was trite. "Hohenheim interfered before I was able to do much of anything and cast me into Hell! He sucked my soul into that blasted sword, then he disappeared and so did the sword. Then, one day a little boy started to play with it and awakened me. And I watched and bided my time, devising a plan. Knowing of Hohenheim's condition, that he jumped bodies, his soul transferred, and had done so for nearly 400 years, I knew what had to be done, and through the ugliness of Hohenheim's desire to be normal, Envy was born!"

Envy smirked thin, he had been listening to every word. "Envy is the embodiment of everything Hohenheim desired to be, his aspirations, hopes and dreams, crushed. All that penned up hate and invidiousness absorbed into the sword from his soul towards the world was transferred into Envy. And he would be the catalyst to free me."

"Third time. Who are you?"

"If you really must know, I am the real Envy - his soul, his essence. The man he used to be." He morphed into a tall, handsome man, with blonde locks, using the ability of his spiritual powers to perform the feat. "And I have a name: Kaoru, son of Hohenheim of Light. But I am not the true Kaoru, only a imprint of the person who died 400 years ago from mercury poisoning at age 18. But I have all his memories. Hohenheim tried to resurrect me, but succeeded at a terrible cost, and I was split into two halves. Dante, my Mother nursed one half of me, the Homunculi known as Envy, while the other half, was born into a body of a little boy 300 years later, which house my reincarnated soul, and who grew up to become Hohenheim's heir. Ironic, isn't it?"

"I see no irony in the situation, just a freak of happenstance."

"The events were preordained before I was born, told to me by a mystic I visited in the town of Liore 300 years ago while I was studying the Dark Arts. She told me of my past life, and that I was actually the son of Hohenheim who died a century earlier, reincarnated. She also told me that I was destined to become great, a powerful Alchemist. Yet again, I already was."

"How much money did she charge you to tell you that foolish prophecy?" Edward said.

Kaoru snorted an amused grunt, then burst out laughing. "Do you really think she told me only what I wanted to hear? She told me of her own volition, I paid her nothing." He said. "She also told me about you and Al, and that one day I would meet you. I thought that part was far-fetched seeing how I would be dead long before you were even born. But guess what, here we are. How little did I know that that bitch had such a glorious gift. She would've been famous if I hadn't killed her."

"Why did you kill her?"

"Because she knew too much about me and I thought that was too dangerous. She knew I had plans to overthrow the Alchemy Academy in Central and I didn't want her to alert them before I was ready. Besides, no one would miss her, she was a drifter."

"You had no right to kill her!" Edward said angry.

"The past is ancient history, she's been dead for nearly a century. Why would you care anyway?"

"Because no one has the right to take another person's life!"

"You've killed."

Edward sighed softly. "Yes. I've killed people. But it wasn't my choice." He said. "And every night their faces haunt my dreams." He made a tight fist with his right hand at his side, feeling the sorrow and the despair of killing those people. But he also felt angry that Kaoru was manipulating him like this, making him remember what he had done.

Kaoru felt his anger and smirked thin. "Emotions are the downfall of society, Humans are so weak," he said.

"Emotions make us who we are, without them, we're nothing but empty vassals. They are the core to the human experience, they make us whole."

"I feel nothing but hate and the desire to kill, that's what makes me whole," Kaoru said.

"Then I pity you, because life without experiencing emotion is no life at all," Edward said.

Anger began to swell inside Kaoru and he looked around for Hohenheim's sword and found it at the bottom of the deep crater. He extended a hand and called for it. Once he had it, he'd kill Edward.

But Edward saw what he was doing and couldn't allow him to again gain control of the sword. Evil begets evil, and that sword was pure evil. So he did the one thing he could do, and bulldogged him, grabbed him in an attempt to stop him. But he lost his balance, and both plummeted down the side of the crater.

"Edward, Alphonse!" Noah shouted, but they obviously couldn't hear him as they rolled to the bottom. There was nothing he could do to help them this time anyway, and even if there was, he suddenly had his own problems, as Envy leapt and pounced on him, clutching his hands around his throat. Noah gasped for breath, and grabbed Envy's arms, trying to brake the chokehold, but the Homunculi was much too strong, and he couldn't break free.

"I'm gonna to kill you, Noah Mahjongg, then I'm gonna kill Edward, and this time, there's not a damn thing you can do to prevent either!" Envy said, and laughed with insane pleasure.

_To be continued...  
_


	26. Chapter 26

Edward Elric got to his feet and felt his left arm as it hung lifelessly at his side, he knew it was broken. He knew he had landed wrong when he tumbled down the side of the crater and heard it snap when he stopped. Sharp surges of pain coursed throughout his body as he administered himself to face Kaoru, who seemed to take the fall better than he did. His enemy rose off the ground like a god out of an abyss with a single thought on his mind.

A sinister smirk plastered itself on Kaoru's scraped face. His hair was ruffled and sweat mixed with dirt masked his pale white skin. He eyed Edward for a moment, looking at his arm. "You thought you'd catch me off guard when you threw yourself at me, didn't you? But you were wrong. I was ready for your feeble attack." He said. The sword had fallen next to him, the worse thing that could happen, and he plucked it from the ground, gripping the handle. He looked at the blade and smiled maliciously, then looked at Edward again.

"I won't let you take Al," Edward said strongly. "I'll fight to free him from you with my last dying breath! He's my brother and I'd never abandon him."

"That's not how he felt when you were gone for those two years." Edward's eyes widened with surprise. "Oh, didn't you know? No Mother, no Father, and no Brother - he felt all alone."

"That's not true! I was away, but he had plenty of people to help him cope."

"Bland words."

"What would you have me say? That I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, Al? Well, I am. I wish I was. You have no idea how hard it was being separated from you. I wish I could go back and change everything. But I can't."

"What if you could?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if you could change the past? Would you undo what you've done?"

"Of course. I wish I never forced Al to perform the Forbidden Alchemy and everything that happened as a result of that. It was all my fault and I've accept that fact. But you can't control me with guilt anymore."

"Yes, we've gone past that point. Still, your guilt is very much the issue."

"And so what if it is?"

"Then controlling you will be easy."

Kaoru rose his right arm and clenched a tight fist in front of him, and suddenly Edward couldn't move. He stayed frozen, holding his arm like some sort of statue. "What the-" he said. "I can't move. What've you done to me?"

Kaoru crossed the crater and once next to Edward angled the blade across his neck. He said, "I can kill you right now but that'll be ridiculously easy. So I'm going to give you a sporting chance, where the stakes are higher than you've ever imagined and the risk just as great."

"If it means rescuing my brother from you, then I accept!" Edward said without hesitation.

Al suddenly screamed, "Nooo!" from inside his mind and Kaoru snorted with a smirk, amused by the prospect that Alphonse Elric could do nothing to help his elder brother.

Trapped inside his own mind by a century old megalomaniac who wanted revenge on the last survivors of Hohenheim of Light, Al felt helpless to do anything. All he could do was watch from what seemed afar, watching everything that transpired through another's eyes. Kaoru was in control, but Al knew that there was always a way to overthrow the over-zealous. He just had to think of a way to supersede Kaoru influence and come on top. He nodded. He had a plan.

On the surface Noah Mahjongg struggled against Envy's unrelenting grip on his throat, strangling him, squeezing tighter and tighter, applying all his strength into trying to kill him. The world and its sounds around him started to fade and his vision began to blur.

"I'm finally gonna finish what I should've done in the first place," Envy said chuckling with pleasure. "You bloody Alchemists are all alike, so annoying and meddlesome. When I'm done with you, they'll be one less of you to spoil the fun."

_No. I won't die here. I'm not ready._ Noah told himself. _One chance._

He quickly straightened his legs and then slammed both his hands down at his side. The ground reacted to his Artistic Alchemy and suddenly two giant hands transmuted from elements found in stone sprang from either side and clasped around Envy's waist, holding him asunder like a vice grip. Envy screamed in pain as he struggled against them and released Noah's throat, instinctively thinking of himself first. He tried to pull the stones apart but his attempts were in vain.

As Envy struggled abated, Noah slipped out from underneath him and got out of arms length. He rubbed his throat and looked back at his would-be killer, knowing his good luck. Envy looked at him enraged by this sudden turn of effects. He growled like a trapped dog mad at its owner for treating it badly. "No fair! No fair!" he protested. Noah disorientated by lack of oxygen suddenly tripped over a stone that was behind him and landed on his rear. Envy burst out laughing.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you," Noah then said, getting back to his feet.

"And why not? It was funny." The Homunculi said. "Now free me from these accursed things and I'll return sucking the life outta you!"

"You had your chance, freak. Now it's my turn." Noah said.

Envy laughed. "And what are you gonna to do to me?" he said. "You do anything to this body and Edward and Alphonse will never forgive you."

"Winry," Noah said softly.

Envy heard him. "That's right, Alchemist, and let's just say those two have developed a more than platonic attachment to this little lady, if you get my drift?" he said.

"You mean they're more than friends?"

"More or less."

Envy suddenly chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Noah asked.

"You know, come to think of it, I'm not so helpless after all," Envy said, and smirked with his typical sinister evilness. Quickly extending his arms out in front of him, morphing them, he launched them towards Noah. They spring at Noah like two speeding bullets and he had no time to dodge them before they wrenched and wrapped around him like the coils of a snake.

Envy slowly reeled Noah towards him as the Alchemist tried to free from Envy's grip, but his attempts were futile. When Noah was within range, he switched bodies. He transferred his essence into Noah's body and Noah's into Winry Rockbell's.

Now in Winry's body, Noah screamed in agony as his Artistic Alchemy was used against him, feeling the vice like grip of the stone hands around his ribs, almost crushing them. And then he released he was not in his own body but that of a woman's. He looked at his hands and knew they did not belong to him. Noah then looked up and saw his own body staring down at him. "You filthy son-of-a-bitch! Give me back my body!" Noah hounded loudly.

Envy laughed. He tightened his hands and felt the cold steel of Noah's Alchemy gloves in his palms. Then he noticed the Transmutation symbol etched into the metal and chuckled at a thought. He crouched down in front of Noah and exhibited his hands to their former owner. "Now I can use Alchemy too," he said, and stood, walking past him. He stood on the edge of the crater and looked down at Edward Elric and Kaoru . "With these gloves, the world will be mine to control. All your powers transfer to me in this body and I intend to use them."

Edward was released from Kaoru's control and staggered back to a safe distance from his enemy. What did Kaoru have planned and what were these stakes he was talking about? He thought. It didn't matter, he then decided. He'd beat him. He could still use Alchemy. And with Alchemy by his side he'd defeat Hohenheim of Light's adopted spoiled brat and get his brother's body back. But how could he perform Alchemy with a broken arm? He needed two!

_To be continued..._

 


	27. Chapter 27

The ground shook violently to the tune of another earthquake, about 7.1 on the richer-scale. But it wasn't Noah Mahjongg would had caused it, although by the appearance of things Noah had indeed been the cause. Envy was in control of Noah's body and had all the Alchemist's powers at his fingertips. Despite using the body as yet another vassal, all of Noah's powers now belonged to him!

Both company in the bottom of the considerable large crater forgot about their personal quarrel and tilted their glances towards him. Edward breathed out a sense of relief that his new-found friend had come to his rescue. With one broken arm and up against to-date his most powerful adversary, he thought this was going to be his last hooray. But then he felt uneasy when he looked at Noah's face and at the dark blue eyes that stared down at him. That was not Noah. It was Noah's body, but he felt a sinister presence inhabiting his body.

Since becoming an Alchemist, he had come to embrace certain ideologies and feelings about people. He couldn't explain the feeling he was getting about Noah - but this was not his friend. And when he looked at Kaoru's face and saw a thin grin upon his face that confirmed his suspicion about the Alchemist.

"Glad you can join us, Envy," Kaoru said, sensing his powerful ally inhabiting the Alchemist's body. "I see you finally rid yourself of that weak girl."

"I had too," Envy replied from the top of the crater. "It was the only way I could do this!"

And Envy tightened his right fist and slammed it to the ground beside him. And suddenly, a stone hand erected itself out of the ground from beneath Kaoru and clasped around him, squeezing him tight. Edward took a few steps back shocked and dumbfounded. _I thought these two were on the same side?_ He then looked back at Noah, who was now Envy. He morphed into his Homunculus counterpart.

Kaoru gritted his teeth and then screamed out in pain as the stone closed in around him, crushing him. "Stop it!" Edward them shouted. "You'll killing'em!"

"That's the whole point, Edward," Envy said slyly, sliding down the edge of the crater. He approached the others and chuckled in his usual unabated manner. "I'm tried of being the puppet. Did you really think I'd wait around for you to restore your strength and then obey you without question?" Kaoru snarled at him like a rabid dog. "I was biding my time for just such an opportunity."

"I don't understand, I thought you two were partners," Edward said. "He told me your whole plan."

"He told you his plan. Funny how he didn't include me in his dream of conquest. It didn't really matter, 'cause throughout it all I was really using him to get what I wanted. And now it's at hand." He plucked the sword from Kaoru's trapped hand. Kaoru shouted, "No, give it back!" But Envy just laughed.

Envy held the sword in his right hand and looked at the blade as light from a break in the cloud cover gleamed across its rustic surface. "At last, it's mine - Hohenheim of Light's sword. Ever since I heard of its existence and its powerful legacy I couldn't stop thinking about it and its immense power."

Edward stood reeling in pain from his broken arm and said, "And what do you intend to do with it?"

"What else? Use it. But for a more loftier purpose."

"I won't let you," Edward then said.

"And how do you intend to stop me with a broken arm. You can't perform Alchemy in your condition."

"Who says I need my arms to do Alchemy," he said, and suddenly pulled off his boots. He rolled over onto his back and clapped his feet together and then slammed his Automail hand to the ground beside him, creating a stone fist that popped out of the ground and hit Envy square in the jaw, throwing him backwards.

Envy landed and then grasped his chin reeling in the pain Edward Elric's unexpected use of Alchemy had done to him. He never expected that, he never even thought that was possible. He jerked his head back to the other and said, "How the hell did you do that? Alchemy is done with the hands, not with the feet!"

"And who told you that?" Edward said, still seated. He clapped his feet again and slammed his Automail hand to the ground beside him. Another stone fist ejected itself from the ground in front of Envy, hitting him in the face as he tried to get to his feet. Envy somersaulted back and landed on his back. Edward knew he had to do something before Envy found a way to evade his attacks and quickly conjured up a stone cell from the stone and dirt around the Homunculus and encased him inside. This is how he trapped his counterpart inside his mind. But he knew it wouldn't be so easy to stop this Envy.

And he was right, because soon after he built the cell it was blown to pieces by Envy's new-found Alchemy powers. Shards of stone scattered in every direction and at the middle of the explosion Envy stood pissed off. He was angry. But Edward couldn't concern himself with that, and continued his attack, erecting yet another stone cell around Envy, and another, and another, and another, until there were four cells overlapping each other, like the layers of some ancient temple built over the existing ones.

Edward hoped he had stopped him. But seconds later a series of explosions denied his hope as Envy broke free of each cell, throwing stone everywhere. Edward ducked behind Kaoru's entrapment to escape from the flying debris. "Nice try, Edward, but your attempts to trap me are futile," Envy said. "As long as I inhabit Noah Mahjongg's body and possess his power, I remain an unstoppable force."

Edward was starting to believe he was right. But everyone had a weakness. And despite Envy's newfound wealth of power, he failed in one ratio: experience. Edward had been trained in situations like this when he attended the Alchemist school in Central. Granted, he was on the road most of the time on missions for the State and on his own personal quest for the Philosopher Stone, but each mission he undertook gave him valuable insight into other Alchemist's minds and he had stored that information away for just such a case. Envy was different, however, he wasn't an Alchemist, he was just some maniac who stumbled upon a fortunate happenstance - and that, Edward thought, could be the advantage in the fight he was looking for.

But first thing was first, he had get that sword away from Envy. Somehow that thing was amplifying his power to such an extent that nothing he did to stop him worked.

Edward hid behind Kaoru's entrapment and tried to think of a way to beat Envy, but the pain of his broken arm was so overwhelming that his mind could focus on little ease.

"Stop hiding, Edward, there's no chance in hell you're getting outta this one," Envy said.

Suddenly an idea came to him and he looked at his Automail hand. He'd forgotten the new addition he'd made to Winry's work - his detachable hand. Of course if he used his remote access to control it off his arm his arms would be completely useless. No, it was too much of a risk to take. If he lost use of his Automail hand he'd have no way to defend himself from Envy's attacks and he'd be a goner for sure. But then he thought at this point he had nothing to lose.

Using remote control, he commanded his hand to detach from its socket and walk on its own. He just hoped it didn't malfunction like it did before. Al had to restrain him when his delusions that were created by Envy masquerading as his own guilt for what he had done to Al, were credulously compromising his ability to separate reality from fantasy and turned to physical violence. Al used an Alchemy binding spell to hold him down while he went through his bouts. It was by use of his remote hand that he was about free Al's hands that were duct taped to his head when Al brought him out of his mind trap, cutting the tape with scissors. After that, for some unknown reason, his hand went berserk. He hoped the neuro command pathways had rectified themselves and things were working correctly now.

As his hand left his side, Envy suddenly came around and found Edward sitting down unarmed. Envy saw Edward's hand moving on its own and laughed. "Planning on using that trick again, Edward," he said. "You really are outta ideas to save yourself, aren't you? Embrace your fate and I promise to kill you quickly."

"You know, Envy, I'll oughta really give you a hand," and Edward signaled his hand to attack. Crawling swiftly like a spider, it then leapt onto Envy and clamped tightly onto his face like some sort of face-hugger. Envy staggered backwards using a hand to try to pull Edward's detached hand off his face, but his efforts met with little success. Then he dropped the sword and used both hands in attempt to pull it off his face, but the servos of Edwards's hand were retaining their grip and even started to clamp harder.

The sword! Edward saw it laying there unattended. But there was a problem. He couldn't hold it. He had no hands to grasp it.

Suddenly another problem arose and Kaoru started to brake free of his entrapment. Edward quickly got to his feet and fled before an explosion of rock and debris forced him to fall and tumble over. Kaoru once again free reached down for the sword and gripped it tightly in his right hand. Then he looked over at Edward who swallowed nervously. In focusing on one enemy he opened himself up to an attack from another and this time he had no way to defend himself. He had forgotten about Kaoru and never even considered that he'd free himself from Envy's trap. He was so wrong. And now he was royally screwed.

Kaoru looked at him like a man who was intensely angry at the whole world and wanted everyone to know it. Edward thought quickly and used his feet to perform Alchemy and erected a wall between him and Kaoru, but the mad Alchemist just sliced it half with the sword, then shattered it into tiny pieces with one touch of his hand. He didn't need to clap his hands together to use Alchemy, he had the sword which amplified his powers. "Alphonse, if you're in there - if ever I needed you most, I need you now, brother," he said.

And suddenly, almost instantaneously, he got an answer.

But not where he expected it from.

_To be continued..._


	28. Chapter 28

Pinako stood outside the Rockbell Automail and hammered out some chinks from a piece of metal that she was planning to use for a client's Automail appendage, when she suddenly turned her thoughts to Edward and Alphonse. She was getting worried about them, they had been gone for a long time.

She glanced towards the lush valley that sat adjacent from the forest where the boys had followed Winry, now possessed by the Homunculi known as Envy, and wondered how they were doing.

Envy was the most mentally unstable and dangerous of the seven Homunculi that were created by the irresponsibility of their father, Hohenheim of Light, and there was no telling what lengths he'd stoop to keep his granddaughters body.

Hohenheim had unintentionally put a string of events into motion that in latter years had brought his two young sons into an insidious fold. Now they felt dutiful to clean up their late father's mess and put an end to the chaos that ensued from what Hohenheim had wrought.

But this incarnation of Envy was more evil than anyone had thought. He used the guilt that Edward housed towards what he had done to Alphonse years ago to feed off his emotions until he was strong enough to overtake Edward and eventually escape his mind.

She still didn't have all the answers and Pinako knew very little about what was going on, but what she did know worried her and she was scared for her granddaughter, who was now in the control of a madman! Edward and Alphonse had to stop him. They were the only ones that could.

Den suddenly perked his head and his nose twitched. Pinako noticed his actions and said, "What is it, Den?" Den stood on his feet and looked towards the forest, taking a couple of steps forward. Then he begin to wage his tail in a very happy manner and barked exultantly, if he had seen a familiar face. But when she looked around, she didn't see anything, nor anyone. "What do you see, Den?" she asked, saying it as if she actually thought she'd get a response from the animal.

Suddenly a small spec of light popped into existence and began to emanate at eye level in front of the dog. It pulsated and remained immobile for a moment, then it entered the animal. Den stopped barking. "Den?" Pinako said.

Den cocked his head towards her and produced a crooked, happy smile. He then let out a woof and took off towards the forest. Pinako watched him run across the valley faster than she had ever seen him run. She watched him for a few moments and then decided to follow. But she was far for a match for Den's speed and lost him when he entered the forest.

"That's a good boy, Den," a gentle voice said to Den inside the animal's mind, as he ran through the forest. "Let me take you to Edward, he's needs you. He needs us."

Den let out a small woof and obeyed the voice. He trusted the voice. It was Alphonse's voice.

When he got to where Alphonse directed him he stopped in front of a large crater in the ground. Den looked down and saw people fighting. Edward was one of these people. He hated when people fought. Why can't Humans just get along with each other? "I wish for that, too, Den," Alphonse said. "Edward needs us, let's go!"

Den barked once and then acted vigilantly. He slid down the crater and started to ran towards Edward, sitting on the ground. He appeared he needed help.

Kaoru snorted with humor. He got to his feet and then snatched the sword that lay on the ground next to him. He squeezed the handle tight, exhorting some unpleased feelings he felt towards Edward. But he was more amused by the Alchemist's previous actions. Despite all that has happened, Edward still had the strength to fight.

But now with one broken arm and his Automail hand engaged in battle - or an close approximation to one with Envy - Kaoru knew Edward was out of options. The battle was his.

"No mercy, Edward," Kaoru said. "Are you ready to visit the Killing Fields with father?"

The Killing Fields. It was a term loosely used by Alchemists to describe a place where those who had fallen in battle went to transverse dimensions and continue there path to the Netherworld, much like the Gate. Only now it was known the Gate did not transverse to this dimension but instead it intersected with a world where Alchemy did not exist. The Killing Fields was a place where souls wandered aimlessly wanting peace after they were killed unexpectedly. Hohenheim, his father, was probably there because of way he had died in the Other World. He knew all about the Outer World from Alphonse. Edward had told him everything that transpired over there and how the real Envy ate Hohenheim. Quite an amusing demise, he thought.

Suddenly he jerked his head around when he heard barking in the distance and his eyes widened with surprise to see a dog running towards him. "What the hell?" he said, as he braced himself for its attack. The dog leapt at him and pinned him to the ground. Hohenheim's sword flew out of his hand and landed beyond reach. The dog growled fearlessly at him and bared its fangs. He tried to push the dog off him, but the animal was relentless and bite his left arm.

He screamed out in pain and pulled against the dog's grip, but to no avail. And with every ounce of struggle the dog bit down harder and deeper, until blood began to ooze from the wound.

"Gettem, Den! Gettem!" Alphonse said.

"GET THIS ANIMAL OFF ME!" Kaoru said demandingly.

"Den, what are you doing here?" he said surprised.

Edward couldn't believe his eyes. "Careful Den, that's actually Al's body," he said, as if the dog understood that.

"Let me go, you damn mutt!" Kaoru cried out. But Den did not.

Kaoru looked over his shoulder and saw the sword. He reached back with his right hand and pulled at the dirt in an attempt to bring the sword to him. But all he was doing was clawing into the soil with his fingers.

He then directed his full attention at the dog and grabbed its neck, squeezing it. Den felt the pressure of Kaoru's hand cutting off his airwave and struggle to breath, releasing his grip from Kaoru's left arm. When Den let go, Kaoru pushed the animal off him and went for the sword. He grabbed it and then turned around quickly point it at Den.

"Back off, Den," Alphonse told him. "That sword can hurt you and I don't want to see you hurt."

The dog backed away as Kaoru regained his composure. Kaoru grabbed his left arm and felt the pain that the dog inflicted. He swore under his breath and then looked at the wound. It was deep wound, the dog almost bit to the bone. "Bad mistake," he said vexed. "I've never killed a dog before, but there's always a first time for everything."

Kaoru jumped to his feet and ran towards Den. Despite his situation, instinctively, and feeling an overwhelming sense of parental protection for Den, Edward pounced into action, and even though he had no hand, he body checked Kaoru. Kaoru was caught off guard - "Oof!" he said, when he hit the ground with a hard thud.

For a moment, Kaoru lay motionless. Edward took this breather to turn a glance towards Den. Den looked to be smiling at him with a doggy crooked smile, his top lip curled upwards in sort of a smirk.

"Thanks Den, but how the heck did you find me?" Edward said.

Den let out a bark and Edward looked at what caught Den's attention. Envy was fighting with his Automail hand. His hand was operating on its own, although programmed by Edward to act in such a way, and moved around like some sort of crazy spider. "How could you know about Envy? You just arrived!" Edward said to Den.

Den let out another bark. "What are you trying to say, Den?" he asked, as if the animal was a person.

"Foolish and utterly futile," Kaoru said, raising himself to his knees. He grabbed the sword and then swung around, raising to one knee. "Pathetic, you need a dog to rescue you, Edward? Is this all you can muster for help?"

"It worked," Edward said.

"Past tense, dear brother, but you'll need more than a dog to defeat me," he said. Kaoru grabbed the sword that lay at his feet and rose unhurriedly, facing the Alchemist with a new confidence. He gave Edward a thin smile. "Without your hands you don't have a chance against me, and with father's sword in my possession, I have unlimited power."

"What power? I haven't seen any power from you. You claim that sword has power, but I think you're all talk."

"That's where you're wrong, Edward, and I'll prove it."

Den growled at Kaoru. "No Den, stay back," Edward ordered. "You're no match for him."

"Wise decision, dog," Kaoru said. "But it won't matter. You're both going to die!"

Envy scrambled around for Ed's disembodied hand that was crawling on him like some sort of possessed insect, but it evaded him every time. He cursed profusely at it as it exhausted his patience. "C'mere, you sonofa-" he said.

Finally he managed to knock it off with a swift hit as it crawled across his chest to his right shoulder. But it bounced back and leapt onto him again. It scurried around his body, around his upper and lower body, until it finally latched onto his face, hugging it like some sort of octopus, squeezing its metallic fingers around his head tightly.

He grabbed it and tried to pull it off, even banging it with his blasters, but with no success. The damn thing would just not let go! And with every attempt he started to feel weaker. It had latched onto his face so tightly that he wasn't able to breath.

He dropped to one knee and with his last ounce of strength managed to insert his hand between the hand and his face and pry it a few inches off his mouth so he could crank his mouth sideways and take a couple of deep breaths to regain some of his strength.

With new hope he continued to pry it loose, eventually ripping it off his face, and throwing it to the ground. He backed way from it, taking more deep breaths. But it followed him, using its fingers as legs. And with an insatiable appetite of an animal that had a one-track mind, it lunged at him again. But this time he caught it in mid-air and held it at bay with both hands, as it struggled against his grip half a metre from his face.

He studied it momentarily, and then said, "Very ingenious, Edward," he said. "You've been busy since I've been away."

He used his blasters to conduct a small electrical charge through the hand to disable it. It sunk lifeless in his hands and at last he could relax. He examined it further and then had a wickedly humorous thought.

Turning it over, palm facing down, he opened its access panel and tinkered with it, reprogramming it. "Time to turn the tables, Edward," he said. He looked over at Edward who was in the middle of battle with Kaoru. "This, is going to be fun."

"Need a hand, Edward?" Kaoru said chuckling. Edward didn't look amused. "Your left arm is broken and you other hand is busy fighting Envy. I'm afraid things don't look good in your favor. Do you really think you and this dog can defeat me? You must be joking."

"Who said I was defenseless?" Edward said. "I still have one card to play."

"This isn't poker," Kaoru said.

"Who said I was bluffing?" Edward said.

Edward dropped to his butt and clapped his feet together, then he slammed them to the ground.

Suddenly the ground shook violently and a jagged fissure cracked and split open between them. Edward got to his feet and moved away from the fissure. Kaoru stepped back looking at the fissure angry that he had forgotten Alchemy could also be done with the feet.

His eyes widened with horror as a gigantic stone hand grabbed the edge of the fissure. Then a head emerged and a stone fiery creature emerged, crawling out of the fissure. Kaoru followed the creature as it rose to its full height and cranked his neck up to look at the over one hundred meter high stone creature facsimile of Edward Elric.

"How confident do you feel now, Kaoru?" Edward said.

"Attack!" Edward ordered, and the stone creature clapped its hands and launched an Alchemy attack, uprooting the ground beneath Kaoru, forcing him to leapt away. Then the creature clawed its hands into the ground and launched boulders at him. Kaoru used his sword to slice some of the boulders in half, but he felt overwhelmed and retreated to what he hoped was a safe distance from the creature. But with a creature of his magnitude and size, he felt out-matched even with Hohemheim's sword. He still had not learned to wield its mighty power. He hadn't had the opportunity to practice. But then he thought perhaps now was the time.

But he needed the energy of the Philosopher Stone to amplify its power. So he reached deep inside to summon its ability. Emptiness. He could no longer feel Alphonse Elric's presence inside his mind. But that was impossible? He would have felt if Alphonse Elric escape. Wait, he thought. That dog he recalled had an powerful aura around it. And it attacked him with such precision and viciousness that someone had to have been directing it. It must have been Alphonse Elric! No, it can't be!

The creature caught up to him. He had been so inner-focused that he had momentarily forgotten about Edward Elric's mammoth creation.

A large boulder came soaring towards him, but he quickly reacted and sliced it in half. As the pieces fell, he ran between them and between the creature's legs as it reached for him. For such a large creature it was pretty fast, but apparently not fast enough to catch him, and he ran away from the creature as it turned around to begin the pursuit again.

Edward smirked smug as he watched his handiwork at work. But as he watched Kaoru running from his creation he failed to realize an unforeseen danger.

Suddenly movement caught his eye and looked over at Envy on the other side of crater waving at him, as if saying good-bye. Then he blew him a kiss.

Edward was immediately disgusted.

Without warning his Automail hand leapt from a blind spot below and onto his face and clasped on tight. Edward struggled against its iron-tight grip, but to no avail. His Automail arm was useless to him and with every movement of his broken arm it caused him agonizing pain. He staggered back and started to panic. There was no one to help him. He was all alone.

His plan had backfired and now his own hand was suffocating the life out of him, and there was nothing he could to prevent it.

_To be continued_...


	29. Chapter 29

"No! No! No!" Envy cried out. "I will not be cheated!"

Edward's hand strangled him and with Alphonse busy there was absolutely no one to help him. Edward had no hands to prevent it or fight back. His mechanical hand squeezed until his face started to turn blue.

Envy had reprogrammed it to attack Edward, to home in on the Automail of Edward's arm. Now he had second thoughts. It was a cheap death, and one not befitting the son of Hohenheim!

"I want to be the one who strangles the life out of you!"

Envy leapt high and across a lengthy distance to land next to Edward avoiding the massive stone monster Edward had created. Then he took hold of the mechanical hand and pulled. But it had an iron clad grip and he only seemed to make the servos tighten their hold.

Unsuccessful, he used Alchemy in an attempt to brake its hold. Using Noah's abilities should have had some effect on it, he thought. Unfortunately, he didn't have the skill the Elric brothers did to instantly transmute an object by simply clapping their hands - no transmutation circle needed. Instead, he carved a circle into the top of the hand with a nail and thought about what he wanted to do.

Suddenly the hand transmutated into its basic components and fell apart.

Edward gasped for breath and coughed. Then he looked wide-eyed at his savior and panicked.

Envy grabbed Edward's neck and started to squeeze. "Your death will me mine and mine alone, Edward Elric!"

Without warning, something grabbed Envy around the waist and hauled him into the air, forcing him to release his hold. The massive stone monster Edward had created then threw him across the crater and into a dirt wall. Envy slammed into the wall and for a moment remained stuck inside the impact hole he made. He wiggled out and dropped to the ground, then growled angry.

He looked over at Edward Elric and watched him roll over onto his stomach as he restored his strength.

Kaoru's plight caught his eyes, and he watched him leap into the air and attack the great stone beast. Kaoru's sword made impact with the creature's right arm as it went to block, but only managed to nick it. A small piece of stone fell from the monster's arm. So, it wasn't infallible after all, Envy thought.

But Kaoru must have figured this out too and attacked the same spot. This time he struck harder and sliced straight through its arm, cutting it clean off. As it dropped to the ground, Envy saw Kaoru turn to him and grin innately with pride. He then looked at Edward. Edward looked aghast. "Your creature isn't so impregnable, Edward. Watch me with my next strike take it down!"

And he did exactly what he proclaimed. Kaoru leapt onto the creature's back and climbed to its head. Then cleanly, he sliced it off. After that, it was only a matter of strategic strikes which destroyed the creature's dexterity and caused it to fall into a pile of rubble.

Disbelief catered Edward's eyes when he saw his creation reduced to chucks of weighted stone. His power over it was now concluded. He never thought Kaoru would beat it.

Unknown to both villains, Den had remained in the background and positioned himself to help if needed. Now was the time, and with Alphonse's guidance, attacked Envy and ramroded him in the back, knocking him over. Then he ran circles around Kaoru. Kaoru swing at him with the sword, but missed every time. Despite Den's age, he was very quick.

"Damn you, mutt! I'll kill you yet!" said Kaoru.

"That's it, Den," said Alphonse, "a little longer."

But bad luck ensued and Den tripped over a stone and rolled across the ground.

Edward's voice hollered panicked over the distance. "Den!"

With his left arm broken and his other hand in pieces, he couldn't call upon Alchemy to help him. But then he remembered what he did back at Winry's place, and removed his boots. _Who says Alchemy can only be performed by using your hands,_ he thought. Then he clapped them together, touched each to the ground and reconstituted his creature.

The creature came together in a magical display of power, and Kaoru couldn't help but stare as it rebuilt itself. Distracted, Den returned to his feet and barreled into Kaoru's stomach. The impact forced Kaoru to release the sword and it went flying through the air straight at Envy.

Surprise and fear struck Envy and he dropped quickly to avoid being hit. And the sword flew passed him and embedded itself into the stone wall behind him.

Den backed off and Kaoru grabbed his stomach and growled angrily, he then looked back at the sword. Without it, he was little match for the new creature Edward had rebuilt. The creature reached down and picked him up with one hand and gripped him tight, lifting him into the air. Unable to move, he shouted, "Envy, help me!"

Each move the creature made shook the earth and the vibrations came to release the sword from the stone. It then fell to the ground and came to rest near Envy.

Seeing it, Envy went for it. But Den was quicker and snatched it in his mouth just before Envy could. Then Den ran to a safe distance. "Blasted dog!" Envy cursed.

But the sword held no true power for him. He had more power using Alchemy in Noah's body than he would wielding the sword. And now that Kaoru was captured, he had the advantage. He folded his arms across his chest and chuckled as he saw Kaoru in the creature's hand. "And why should I? With you dead, I'll have everything."

"You idiot! Without me, neither us can survive!"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm the catalyst that holds us together. You were created by Hohenheim of Light and my desire for revenge. We're one mind and body."

"You're lying!"

Kaoru gritted his teeth but withheld a cry as the creature squeezed tighter.

Envy thought about Kaoru's words. His form was only temporary unless he was able to permanently transmute his essence into Noah's body. Once that happened, he would be human. But until that time, he was still vulnerable. "Okay, so we need each other. . .but things are going to change. For now on, I call the shots!"

Using Noah's blasters, he fired off a large blast of energy at the monster's wrist, and its hand dropped to the ground with Kaoru still held inside. Then he destroyed the creature completely and turned anything recognizable into dust.

Kaoru was unhurt. Suddenly, the hand blasted apart when confronted with an alchemic reaction. He turned the stone into an explosive material, while summarily protecting himself from the blast by engulfing himself within an energy field.

That was new, Envy thought. He had never seen an Alchemist generate a field force around him. But Kaoru must have used wind sheers to make it appear so. By swirling the air around him, he could create an invisible barrier, and by mastering these sheers, force debris away.

However, he didn't come out completely unscathed. Unbeknownst, a piece of debris got through his barrier and his shirt was ripped open in front exposing a blood trail across his chest.

"You're bleeding!" said Envy.

Kaoru looked down and saw the wound. He ripped opened his shirt further and exposed it to the air. Then he touched it and rubbed its crimson through his fingers. It was slippery and soft - he smirked. Trapped in the sword for hundreds of years, he had forgot what it meant to be human. The wound stung, but he controlled the pain.

Envy aimed the blasters at Kaoru, and Kaoru saw his attempt at boldness. "You wouldn't dare."

"You tempt me," Envy said. But then lowered the blasters. "Like you said, we need each other."

"I'm more powerful than you despite what you may think. Even though you can use Alchemy and have those blasters, you're still no match for the power I wield."

"We'll see. Now, where's that miserable dog?"

Envy aimed the blasters at Den, but Kaoru said, "No, don't kill him. We need him."

"We need that dog? Why?"

Kaoru turned to Den, who continued to back away with the sword in his mouth. "Alphonse, did you really think I wouldn't notice you gone?"

"What? You mean that dog is. . ."

"Inside that dog is the indomitable spirit of Alphonse Elric," Kaoru confirmed. "I knew the moment you escaped the mind trap I had placed you in, Al. You have a strong will. But mine is stronger."

"Al! Get away from him!" Edward shouted.

Kaoru clapped his hands and touched the ground. By this, he was able to create a type of dirt tidal wave that scooped Den off his feet and brought him to Kaoru. But Den still kept his mouth clamped down on the sword.

All appeared hopeless, Al thought. If Kaoru got his hands on the sword again, he would be unstoppable. And with Edward near defenseless - there was only so much he could do by performing Alchemy with his feet - he needed a plan.

Then he had an idea. _Why didn't I think of this before?_ According to his father, the sword granted the deepest desire of the person who held it using Alchemy, and by using the power of the all the souls trapped inside, he could get back what he lost.

 

_Deja-Vu. This is just like getting my body back by using the Philosopher Stone. No, that wasn't my fault. Scar killed all those people and trapped them in the stone, then turned me into the stone. I didn't have a choice. I don't have a choice here either. I can't live the rest of my life sharing Den's body. I can't do that to Den. Besides, Dad trapped all those people for a reason - they're evil. Now, it was time for them to give their lives for a better purpose._

 

After a little reasoning with Den, he asked the dog to release the sword. Den did, and it dropped to the ground. Then Den put a paw on the blade - and the scar on Kaoru's chest began to glow.

Kaoru felt his chest and it began to sear with a hot white intensity. Then something started to emerge using it as a gateway to exit from his body - an arm, then a head, and eventually an entire body. But it had no form, it was pure energy at first. When its conception was complete, it began to transmute and its true identity was revealed.

An energy pulse pushed Kaoru back and threw him to the ground. He looked back and saw Alphonse Elric standing before him. Al looked at his body, though naked, he cared less about modesty at the moment than about getting his body back. Odd, however, Kaoru still kept his.

"Al!"

Alphonse looked back at Edward, and smiled. "I'll explain later." He then turned back to Kaoru.

Kaoru touched his chest and looked at Al in awe. The burning was still there, but the pain started to subside. "This is impossible! How can you have your own body while I -"

"Because I wished it so," said Alphonse. "Our father never told you the true power within the sword. It can grant the one who holds it one wish. And I wished to restore my body, while still keeping yours."

"That would mean -"

"That you're alive again. And human." Alphonse punched a fist inside his other hand. "And it's time for a little payback."

Kaoru put a hand up. "Wait, State Alchemist's don't kill!"

"Family ties are thicker than blood, and throughout all this, all the suffering I watched you cause, I thought about it - but I'm not going to kill you. That's not my way. But that doesn't mean I can't hurt you." Kaoru suddenly chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"Me!" And Envy quickly wrapped an arm around Alphonse's neck and began to chock him. "I'm not a State Alchemist, but I do have your power. Pity that now you have your body back, you're going to die!"

"Al!" Edward shouted.

Al staggered back and struggled against Envy's grip. "Envy, stop this," Al said.

"And why should I? I want you dead too! And once you're gone, I'll go after Edward. Then you can join that bastard you call a father in Hell!"

Despite no arms, Edward rushed Envy and head butted him in the back, forcing him to release Al. The jerk threw Al to the ground. But Envy recovered quickly.

But so did Al, and turned the tables, and jumped Envy. He pinned him to the ground and started punching him in the face. "Careful, Al. That's really Noah inside."

Al suddenly stopped. He had forgotten.

Envy kneed Al in the stomach when he was distracted and kicked him off him. Landing near the sword, Al grabbed it and got to his feet.

"I see a lot of you in me when I was alive," Kaoru said. Al looked at him. "And what you just did to restore your body was a technique from the Alchemic Dark Arts, something Hohenheim banished me in the sword for. You transmuted all those souls in the sword in exchange to get it back without use of the Gate. But that still wouldn't be enough. You must still have the Philosopher Stone inside you, thus by-passed the principal of equivilant exchange."

"So what if I do. You'll never get it!"

Envy backed away and went to stand next to Kaoru.

"I don't need it anymore, you've already given me my wish. I'm human again."

"But what about me?" Envy said.

"Why bother? You have more power inhabiting that body than you ever would in another body. You're a Homunculi possessing a human who can use Alchemy. You're more powerful than you can ever imagine. Now that my body is restored, I'll return and finish what I started: destroy the Great Academy in Central and kill all alchemists. I'll destroy your way of life, Alphonse, until Alchemy is but a distant memory!"

"I won't let you do that!"

"Who's going to stop me? You? Your brother? We're more than a match for you and your crippled brother."

"Appearances can be deceiving, Kaoru," Edward said, as he came to stand next to Alphonse - his Automail hand restored and back attached to his arm.

Al looked at it surprised. "But how?"

"The new trick I learned. I used my feet to perform Alchemy and reconstituted the components in my hand. Unfortunately, it can't detach and crawl around anymore."

"That's a shame, I thought that was funny."

Kaoru crossed his arms across his chest. "How touching the union between brothers. Let's play a game. A life that will determine the fate of the world."

Alphonse jerked his attention back. "I thought we were playing that game already?"

"That was just the warm up. Call it survival of the fittest. All that you went through to get to this point was nothing compared to what is to come."

"I like games, but not for your stakes." Al turned his sword upside down and then stabbed the ground. The ground quaked and a giant fissure opened up between them. Al and Ed was on one side and Kaoru and Envy on the other.

But Kaoru did not look impressed. He went to the fissure's edge and looked down. It looked bottomless. "Nice hole, but it'll do you no good." Clapping his hands, he erected a stone bridge to the other side. "What you can do, I can counteract."

"What's the deal? You no longer need the sword and you're done with Alphonse Elric, can't we kill them now?" said Envy.

"You're right, Envy, why wait any longer? Kill them at your leisure."

Envy grinned balefully. "Finally!"

Using the blasters, he sent a powerful Alchemic blast towards the Elric brothers.

Edward pulled Alphonse out of the way as the blast just narrowly missed him.

"I think it's time we retreat, Alphonse."

"I agree. Besides, it's getting a little cold out here. But I'll do one better." Alphonse clapped his hands and erected a giant stone wall in front of them. It temporarily provided shelter from Envy's energy blasts.

Edward attempted to take off his shirt, but Al had to help him because of his broken arm. "Here, reconstitute the fibers into a pair of shorts. You wouldn't want Winry to see you like that."

"Believe me, you have no idea."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Winry's already seen me. I was changing after taking a bath. I thought I was alone. I was totally naked. She saw me from head to toe. Nothing came of it. All totally innocent. Honest!"

Edward smiled. "You're grown now, Alphonse. How you live your life is none of my concern. You're a State Alchemist. I'm proud of you, I just wanted to tell you that."

"Thanks brother," Alphonse said, smiled, and then transmuted Edward's shirt into a pair of shorts. He slipped them on. "I still feel underdressed for battle."

"It'll have to do."

Suddenly, an energy blast came crashing through the wall and zipped over their heads.

Edward looked back at the debris left over from his stone giant and said, "I have an idea. We need help."

"And where do get this help? We're alone out here."

Al looked where Edward was looking and had the same thought and grinned. "Gotcha, brother."

"Come out, come out, where ever you are!" Envy taunted, and shot another blast at the stone wall. After a few more, he brought it down completely and it crumbled. But the Elric brothers were not there. But there was another wall just behind it - a bigger and lengthier one.

Edward and Al stepped out from behind it. "There you are," Envy said, and sent several more blasts towards them.

The brothers ran out of the path of the blasts as they slammed against the wall. The blasts destroyed it and it came crumbling to the ground.

Envy gasped at what stood behind it. "Oh no," he muttered.

And Kaoru's mouth went agape as he saw it too.

One hundred faceless stone warriors stood ready for battle with swords. Half looked like Al and other Ed. Dimutive in stature than the giant monster earlier, but greater in number.

Al smirked smartly. "You want a fight, Kaoru. You got it!"

_To be continued.._.


	30. Chapter 30

Alphonse Elric scowled as he watched Kaoru and Envy made short work of his stone soldier minions. Using both their unique abilities and enhanced with Alchemic powers, his cunningly crafted army didn't stand a chance against their combined might.

In less than a minute, they were mere dust and debris shattered across the landscape. But he didn't expect much of them anyhow. There were merely created to allow him and his brother to fallback and think of a new strategy to defeat the pair. But they didn't even give him that much.

Huddled with Ed behind a large boulder, Al faced away from the pair and pressed his back against the stone, his brow frowning. He had to think quickly. He was running out of ideas, and his brother didn't look well. His face was pale, most likely caused by exhaustion by his broken arm. It must have been excruciating. Ed was never one to complain about physical pain, but Al knew he was hurting. He had to get him out of here and to a doctor.

"Your army wasn't much of an army, Alphonse," Kaoru said mockingly, his voice carrying over the barren landscape. "You have some fancy tricks, but that's all they are - tricks! And I thought Alchemists were clever people. I guess it takes someone of more intelligence to outwit a true master of the Dark Arts, like me."

Al clenched his jaw angry by the comment, but he refused to give into Kaoru's taunt. He remained silent. But he wasn't done yet. He still had a few more tricks up his sleeve. Well, metaphoric sleeve. The only article of clothing he was wearing was a pair of shorts crudely fashioned by Ed's shirt.

The wind whipped at his naked skin and he saw goose bumps starting to form on his skin. But how he felt would have to wait. Defeating Kaoru and Envy was more important than feeling cold. Even if it cost him his life, he would defeat them. It was his duty as a State Alchemist.

Kaoru was his father's first child. He died at a young age from Mercury poisoning. Against the very law of Alchemy, Hohenheim brought him back to life. But it at a very hefty cost. In doing so, Kaoru turned against his father and began to dwell in the forbidden Alchemic Dark Arts. When he tried to destroy Central City and the Great Alchemic Hall, Hohenheim had no choice but to cast a spell and seal him the sword that Kaoru now wielded. Hohenheim's sword.

Somehow, against all odds, he managed to free himself and escape into the real world with Envy's help - who, oddly enough are the same person, but in just different forms.

Envy is the malice and evil that was Kaoru created in Homunculus form, an un-human creature born of more forbidden Alchemy.

Kaoru, his true self, was resurrected through a conjoining with Al's body. Yet with help from the Philosopher Stone that still resided in him, that joining was broken. Now Al had his own body back and Kaoru had a new one.

This was bad, very bad, Al mused. And he couldn't think of a way to rectify things. The only way to reverse things was to return Kaoru back into the sword and force Envy out of Noah Mahjongg's body. That, however, lay in the problem. How? Kaoru and Envy were seemingly more powerful. If Ed was at full strength, they could easily take them down. Nearly unconscious, Ed wasn't any help. And with his own strength quickly fading, Al was no match for them alone. It almost seemed Kaoru and Envy could do anything, that anything was plausible if they wished it.

Anything was plausible? He had heard that before - from Envy - when he was referring to the abilities he had inside Ed's mind, that he could do anything, nothing was beyond comprehension.

Then it struck him.

Of course.

Could it be?

Were they. . .could they still be in. . .

He peaked around the boulder and an energy blast came from Envy's blasters, slicing a piece off, sending it past Al's legs, forcing him to jerk back.

If his theory was correct, winning was as simple as turning off a light switch. Theory or not, he had to force a conclusion to this stand off.

"Kaoru. Envy. I'm coming out. I surrender." Al looked around the boulder again and saw Envy's blasters poised on his position. Kaoru put a hand in front of Envy, stopping a shot. Envy lowered his arms. Al emerged from the boulder with his hands up, the universal sign of surrender. "I surrender. We've had enough. We're just no match for your superior powers. My brother needs medical attention. You can have anything you want, just get Ed to a doctor. Then we can talk."

"The time for talk is over," Envy said. "Ed will survive. In fact, he's in no danger at all."

"His arm is broken in several places. He's in shock. He's almost consciousness. He needs medical help. If you truly want his body to transmute in to, you need him healthy."

"I never said I needed him healthy. Everything I need I already have."

Kaoru looked at Envy strangely. "What are you talking about, Envy?"

"Do you want to tell him, or should I?" Al said. "I finally figured it out. It took me a while, but in the end it's the only logical conclusion to all this."

Envy smirked crudely. "Even if you have, you won't escape me. I hold all the cards."

Kaoru scowled impatiently. "What in the hell are you talking about, Envy? Explain."

"We're still in Ed's mind, Kaoru," Al explained. "We never left. It was all a clever rouse by Envy to make us think his fantasy was our reality. It was all to get us to play his little game. You see, he can never leave here. He's trapped. He's nothing but a memory. Guilt my brother has been festering since the beginning for what he did to me six years ago when we attempted to resurrect our mother. When he and my brother fought in the citadel in the underground city, he nearly killed Ed by stabbing him in the heart with his arm. Since that day, a part of him has forever been a part of Ed, building strength, until finally reaching a level where he was able to control Ed, thus making me attempt something so desperate, like a Mind Mend, trapping us in Ed's mind. Kaoru, you are real, in essence as to the memory Envy has of his old life, but as in substance, you are also nothing but memory. So, in some elaborate, devious plan, he brought us all together for an ultimate agenda. I imagine to kill us. Perhaps to finally eliminate the line of Hohenheim forever."

"Is this true, Envy?" Kaoru said.

Envy chuckled amused. "You were never more powerful than me, Kaoru. I've been the puppeteer the whole time. Al is correct. Yes, well done, Alphonse. But if I can't survive, neither will any of you."

"Envy, you fool! I can make us live again. All we need is the Philosopher Stone and -"

"That's nothing but a pipe-dream, Kaoru. Besides, the Philosopher Stone needs a tremendous amount of life force energy to even attempt what you're thinking, and Al doesn't have it. In its unaltered state, as Al once was, perhaps, but as Al is now, it won't work. So it can't be done. So all we have to do is wait until Ed dies in his mind, and we all die. And my ultimate plan will be realized."

Kaoru looked confused, Al explained.

"That's right. Theory has it if a person dies in a dream or fantasy inside their mind, that person will die in real life. It's never been proven, however."

"Let's wait together, I feel him weakening," Envy said. "He's fading. And when he collapses unconscious, he'll die."

"If Ed dies, you'll still have to contend with me. You see, our minds are connected. And now that I know the truth, I'm the one in control, and hold all the cards. In here, as you said, anything is plausible."

Al waved his hands over his body and his clothes materialized on his body, his black shirt and pants, and red coat. t

Then another surprise came. Ed walked out from behind the boulder in perfect health, dressed, and his arm no longer broken, and all his Automail repaired.

"I should've realized it myself, Alphonse," Edward said proudly, patting a hand on Al's shoulder. "I heard everything, and when Envy confirmed it, I told myself enough was enough. Sometimes a fresh mind is needed to reason things out clearly."

Envy growled tersely and aimed a blaster at Ed and other at Al. "It doesn't matter, you're both going to die. Once I kill you, they'll be nothing left of that bastard Hohenheim!"

"You were wrong, Envy," Al said. "Memory is the ultimate weapon. You can never destroy it. And now our combined thoughts are more powerful than either of yours. And since we are still in Ed's mind, the Philosopher Stone has all the power I need to do what I'm about to do."

Envy's eyes widened with both fear and angry. "You wouldn't! I won't let you!"

"One thought, and all this will be over, and you two will cease to exist."

Envy then began to chuckle and Al found it odd. "You fool. I was here in Ed's mind long before you showed up and here I'll remain. You'll never get rid of me. And I'll continue to torment Edward until for as long as he's alive."

"That's where you're wrong," Ed retorted. "You were able to control me before by using my guilt for what I did to Al, but now I know you were just manipulating me. Al's forgiven me. And I've forgiven myself. You can't control me anymore."

"I won't let you leave! I'll kill you both first."

Envy sent an intense blast of energy at both of them, but it had no effect. It just dispersed around them. They believed it wouldn't harm them, and it didn't.

Al and Ed looked at each other and smiled.

"Shall we do the honors, Alphonse?"

"Let's finally put an end to this, brother."

In unison, each clapped hands, and then slapped the ground. The ground began to quake and a large fissure opened up beneath Envy and Kaoru, swallowing them. They fell, and their screams echoed off the stone walls as they descended into a dark abyss, disappearing into nothingness.

Ed closed the fissure with his mind, sealing them.

"Time to go home, brother," Al beamed a smile at Ed.

Ed returned the smile. "I agree, Al. Thank you for saving me."

"Hey, what else is for a brother for."

And Ed laughed.

When Ed woke up in the real world, he discovered he was in Winry's house. Al was leaning over him. Winry was also there. With a look of pure joy on her face, he found himself smiling at her. He was glad to see her, especially after what Kaoru had supposedly done to her inside his mind. He thought Winry was dead.

"You were in that mind meld a long time, nearly a day," she said.

"Only a day? It seemed longer," Ed said.

Al released Ed from the binding spell after Winry cut the tape that physically bound the brother's together. Al had told Winry to tape them together initially because Ed was jerking around too much for the Mind Meld to work properly. This is what Al told him when Ed asked about it.

Ed arose from bed, he rubbed his back and neck. "I hate bed sores."

"I hate nightmares," Al replied.

And they both laughed.

"So, what happened?" Winry asked.

Once they got a cup of tea, and Ed started to feed his rumbling stomach with cold chicken breast from the fridge, Al told her everything, as they sat around the kitchen table.

He explained how Envy was behind Ed's "Waking Hallcinations", that they met their long lost brother, Hohenheim's first son, Kaoru, and how he had practiced in the Alchemic Dark Arts and was trapped in a special sword, and how both were eventually defeated by sheer intellect. So astonishing was the story, it rendered Winry speechless.

Just as the story ended, Pinco entered the kitchen with Den following her. "Interesting story. But you'll probably be surprised that some of it is true." All three stared. Ed even stopped eating failing to swallow, his mouth crammed with food. "Your father did have a sword like that you talked about and he gave it to me to store. I have it in an old chest in the basement. Want to see it?"

Ed finally swallowed his food, but took a piece of chicken with him as he followed the others down into the basement. Pinco lead them to an old chest buried beneath other things, and the clutter was cleared away before the chest could be opened. Inside, sheathed, was a sword.

Al took it out and unsheathed it. It was the exact same sword. "But how can this be?" he said bewildered. "I thought I imagined it?"

Pinco said, "Your father must have told you about it at some point, or you over heard him talking about it, or seen it, or something else, and it stuck in your mind, and when you needed a weapon to use, you manifested it."

"Amazing," Al said excitedly. "The mind is truly a powerful tool"

"Indeed," Pinco agreed. "You most assuredly proved that by defeating both Envy and Kaoru."

"Do you think the rest of it is true?" Ed said.

"That Dad trapped Kaoru inside the sword? I hope not. But with Dad, you never know." Al sheathed the sword. "Can I have this?"

Pinco shrugged. "Sure. It's yours anyway. Call it an inheritance."

Al smiled. "Great. Thanks."

"What do you intend on doing with it? State Alchemists aren't allowed to carry weapons."

"I know just the thing."

"Okay, I'm still a little confused about something," Ed then said.

"As usual," Winry put in.

Ed scowled, but then his brow eased. "Who is Noah Mahjongg?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? Noah Mahjongg is real. He's Major Armstrong's nephew. Major Armstrong spoke about him in a letter he sent me telling me about the work he's doing restoring the town of Loire with Rose. Noah's helping them with his Artistic Alchemy. I must have got to thinking about him and inadvertently inserted him into your mind."

"Like I didn't have enough characters already."

"But apparently he had a purpose. I don't think we could've defeated Kaoru and Envy without him. When I finally figured things out, we needed his energy."

"Ah, now I see. So you converted his energy along with Envy, Kaoru, and those souls Kaoru believed were trapped in the sword, into raw energy for the Philosopher Stone so we could escape. They were the catalyst to break free from Envy's hold. Brilliant."

Al smiled proudly. "I'm glad you think so."

Ed playfully ruffled his little brother's hair. Even though Al was slighter taller, Ed was still the older brother and it was his way of showing pride in him. "Now don't get a big head. Alchemist's must remain level headed. We both thought what we experienced was real."

"I know, and that's what bothers me. It got me thinking. What if reality as we know it is just someone's fantasy, and when the fantasy ends - will we cease to exist?"

"You're over-analyzing. Best let questions like that be the aim of philosophers. Stick to what we do best. We're Alchemists. We create our own world."

Al nodded. "Yeah, you're right, brother. Are you still hungry?"

"Always," Ed said.

"My treat. Any restaurant you want. No expense is too great. I finally have my brother back and healthy." He put an arm around Ed's shoulders. "The Elric brothers are together again!"

Ed smiled. "Yeah, I missed you very much."

"Not a day went by that I didn't think about you, brother."

"I wonder how our duplicates are doing in the other world?"

"I'm sure they're doing just fine. We sealed the gate on our end and they can't use Alchemy in that world. Even if it's still open, they can't use it without our side being open. We're perfectly safe."

And Ed agreed. He smiled. "Now, take me to the best restaurant in town. And I hope you have deep pockets, Al."

On his next mission abroad, Al chucked the sword out a window into a lake from the locomotive he was riding on, and it sunk into its depths. Even if his father did seal Kaoru's soul into the sword, that's where it would stay. He placed an Alchemy binding spell on it just to make sure. Kaoru would stay in there where he belonged, forever. And eternity was a very long time.

END


End file.
